Skip to main content

Full text of "The historical families of Dumfriesshire and the border wars"

See other formats 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


r'i '// 


LOCHMABEX   CASTLE. 


T  H  E 


HISTORICAL  FAMILIES 


OF    DUMFRIESSHIRE 


AND 


THE   BORDER  WARS 


BY 

C.     L.     JOHNSTONE. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


DUMFRIES  :    ANDERSON  &  SON. 

EDINBURGH  AND  GLASGOW :    JOHN  MENZIES  &  CO. 

LONDON:    SIMPKIN,  MARSHALL,  &  CO. 


Dl'lIFRIES  : 

Printed  at  the  Cdurieu  and  Herald  Offices. 


PREFACE. 


..jwN  a  previous  edition,  I  alluded  too  briefly  to  the 
important  Border  war  of  the  reigns  of  Robert  Bruce 
and  Edward  I.,  but  as  the  three  claimants  to  the  Scottish 
throne  possessed  lands  in  Dumfriesshire,  who  naturally 
took  much  share  in  it,  I  have  added  a  Chapter  on  the 
subject.  In  describing  the  different  families  celebrated  in 
past  ages,  I  have  given  greater  prominence  to  those  whose 
history  has  never  been  published  before,  and  who  are  still 
represented  in  the  legitimate  male  line.  Owing  to  the 
custom  of  the  sons  of  heiresses  inheriting  their  mother's 
name,  and  of  lands  being  rarely  entailed  exclusively  on 
male  heirs,  it  is  a  very  unusual  circumstance  to  find  two 
branches  of  one  family  claiming  unbroken  male  descent 
from  the  15th  century,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Johnstones, 
who  numbered  nine  lairds  (more  than  any  other  house  in 
Dumfriesshire)  in  1581,  and  a  tenth  laird  in  Lanarkshire. 
Family  details  help  to  illustrate  the  manners  of  a  period, 
and  assist  in  elucidating  some  obscure  points  of  national 
history.  The  list  of  Members  of  ancient  Scottish  Parlia- 
ments will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found  interesting,  as  well  as  the 
pictures  of  ancient  Castles,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the 
kindness  of  a  proficient  in  Scottish  archaeology  and  antiqui- 
ties, Richard  Gardiner,  Esq.,  M.D. 

872G53 


IV. 


Preface. 


<s 

o 

p 

OS 

5' 

cr 


Among  the  documents  quoted  are  : — 

MSS.  in  the  Hotel  des  Archives,  Paris. 

The  Register  of  the  Great  Seal.  ") 

The  Register  of  the  Privy  Council. 

The  Register  of  the  Lords  in  Council. 

Acts  and  Decreets. 

Acts  of  the  Lords  Auditors. 

Register  of  Deeds. 

Register  of  Retours.  >- 

Register  of  Wills. 

Register  of  Sasines. 

Register  of  the  Privy  Seal. 

Horning  Processes. 

Justiciary  Records. 

Acts  of  the  Scottish  Parliament.  J 

MSS.  State  Papers,  London  Record  Office 

Maxwell  Charters. 

Book  of  Carlaverock. 

Cott.  MSS.,  British  Museum,  &c. 

Holinshed's  History  of  Scotland,  1577. 

Dumfries  Sasines. 

Dumfries  Registers. 

Woodrow  MSS. 

The  Mansfield  Charter  Chest. 

The  Galabank  Charter  Chest. 

Wormanbie  Charters. 

MSS.  from  Lord  Herries's  Charter  Chest. 

Crawford's  Peerage,  1716. 

Nesbitt's  Peerage,  1722. 

Douglas's  Peerage,  1761. 

Fishing  Acts,  1772. 

Annan  and  Lochmaben  Registers. 

Hawick  Charters. 

History  of  the  Carliles. 


1889. 


C.  L.  J. 


? 


O  N  T  E  N  T  S. 


CHAPTER  I.  Paqe 

Norman  Settlers  in   Dumfriesshire — Brucea — Carliles,   &c. — 
The    Douglas   Rebellion  —  The    Corrys  —  Hostages   for 


David  II. 


CHAPTER  II. 


A  brief  ticcount  of  the  Relations  of  Scotland  with  England 
before  the  Accession  of  the  Stuarts  —  The  Early  Scottish 
Church — Royal  Lettei's — Death  of  Alexander  III. — King 
John  Baliol — Bruce — The  Scots  Appeal  to  the  Pope  — 
Carliles— The  Stuarts  or  Stewarts— Sir  W.  Wallace— The 
Kirkpatricks — Johnstones — Edward  Baliol  —  Douglas — 
The  Kerrs  —  Bruce's  Army — A  Dumfries  Inquest  — 
Escheats  in  Annandale — Edward  II. — Eustace  Maxwell 
— Scottish  Prisoners  in  England— Safe  Conducts...         ...       8 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Stewarts — Douglases — Their  Rebellions — Battle  of  Lang- 
holm— The  Dukes  of  Albany — The  Scottish  Archers — 
The  Crichtons 34 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Death  of  Malcolm  III.— Rise  of  The  Maxwells— The  John- 
stones —  Carruthers — Corries — Reputed  Relationship  of 
the  Newbie  and  Gretna  Johnstones  to  the  Marquises  of 
Annandale — Curious  Charter — The  English  Invasions  of 
Annandale — The  Annandale  Peerage  Case — Johnstones 
of  Westerhall — Note  on  Lady  Janet  Dunbar,  &c.  ...     45 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Grahames — Prince  Charles — Gordons— Jardines — Kirk- 
patricks — Cummings — Flemings  —  Claimant  of  the  Wigton 
Title — Carrutherses — Carlyles  —  Murrays  —  Lord  Mans- 
field— Thieves   of   Liddesdale — The   Debateable   Land — 


vi.  Contents. 


Page. 


Irvings — Charteris  —Stewarts — Fergussons  —  Few  Heirs 
of  the  Male  line — Griersons — Herries — Maitlands — Bos- 
wells  —Sharpes  —  Clark  Kennedys — Dunwiddies — Bells — 
Romes     ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     (51 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Queen  Margaret — Third  Douglas  Rebellion— Death  of  James 
III. — Scotts  of  Buccleuch  and  Branxholme — Battle  of 
Flodden— English  Invasion — Retaliation — Johnnie  Arm- 
strong—Quarrel between  the  Maxwells  and  Johnstones — 
The  Reformation — Plan  to  Kidnap  James  V.  —  Scots 
Defeated — The  King's  Death— List  of  Prisoners — Maxwell 
— Another  English  Livasion — List  of  Border  Chiefs  who 
Surrendered — Outlaws  —  Queen  Mary's  Letter  —  Cruel 
Ravages —Peace  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     77 

CHAPTER  VIL 

Lord  Herries — Bothwell  —The  Armstrongs — The  Reformation 
—  Acts  against  the  Romanists— Queen  Mary  visits  Dum- 
fries— Civil  War  —  The  Regent's  Progress — Another 
English  Invasion — The  Gladstones— Younger  Sons — List 
of  the  Men  of  Annan  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...   102 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Sir  James  Douglas  —The  Lairds  of  Johnstone  and  Newbie  — 
A  Border  Cliief's  Will— The  Lairds  of  the  West  Marches 
— Civil  Feuds — Battle  of  Dryfe  Sands — Respite — Queen 
Mary  and  her  Friends— Her  Death— Queen  Elizabeth's 
Letter  — Romanists  and  Protestants — Scottish  Soldiers  of 
Fortune — List  of  Lairds  and  Gentry  —  Letters  from 
James  VI.  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone       ...  ...  ...    115 

CHAPTER  IX. 

King  James's  Interview  with  Johnstone  and  Scot — Johnstone 
of  Gretna — The  Grahames — Lochinvar — Settlement  of 
the  Borders — Attack  on  Newbie — Consequent  Lawsuits 
— The  Trumbles — Rigorous  Treatment  of  the  Romanists 
— Maxwell  kills  the  Laird  of  Johnstone — His  Exile  and 
Execution — John  Corsane — Justices  of  the  Peace  in  1610 
— Letters  of  Slain         ...  ...         ...         ...  ...         ...    142 


Contents.  vii_ 


CHAPTER  X. 


Par/e. 


Actions  with  regard  to  the  Sale  of  Newbie  and  other  matters 
Provosts  of  Annan — Galabank — John  Galloway — Edward 
Johnstone  of  Ryehill — Dr  Robert  Johnstone's  Will^ 
Newbie  Castle  Burnt — Johnstone  of  Mylnfield— Authors 
— The  Decline  of  a  Border  Family — A  Funeral — The 
Poverty  of  Scotland — Smugglers — Prince  James's  Inva- 
sion— Execution  of  Lord  Kenmure  ...  ...  ...  ..     159 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  Johnstones  of  Galabank — Prince  Charles  Edward  Invades 
Dumfriesshire  —  Count  Lockhart  —  Imperial  Visitors — 
Funeral  Expenses — Howard's  allusion  to  the  young 
physician  -Sir  William  Pulteney — Alienation  of  Gala- 
bank — The  Poles — Manipur — The  Dryad — The  Second 
Marquis  of  Annandale — The  Last  Marquis  ...  ...   179 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Presbyterian  Kirk — -Intolerant  Measures— Charles  I.  and 
the  Despoilers  of  the  Church — The  Earl  of  Buccleuch  — 
The  Duke  and  Marquis  of  Queensberry — Provosts  and 
Bailies  of  Dumfries — Stewards  Depute — Registers  of 
Dumfries— Note — Provosts  of  Annan  ...         ...         ...   192 


APPEXDICES. 

Sovereigns  of  Scotland— Royal  Descents — Letters  from  Irving 

and  Carlyle— Members  of  Parliament  for  Dumfriesshire  203 


ILL  us  TEA  TIOXS. 


Page 

LOCHMABEN-    CaSTLE                

Fronti'<}wc<'. 

TORTHORWALD             

21 

Sanquhar     

41 

Sweetheart  Abbey          

57 

Closeburn 

165 

Lag 

75 

Terregles  Church          

109 

Amisfield 

91 

HoLYwooD  Church          

5 

COMLONGAN    CaSTLE                

185 

Friars'  Kersse       

147 

Spedlings     

125 

'  /     ■  ;  Hi  -J 


CHAPTER    I. 

Norman  Skttleks  in  Dumfriesshire — Brcces,  Carlyles,  &c'. — 
The  Douglas  Rebellions — The  Corries  —  Hostages  for 
David  II. 

THE  conquest  of  England  by  tlie  Normans  in  1066 
brought  a  host  of  adventurers  into  the  country,  who 
were  often  rewarded  for  their  part  in  the  battle  of  Hastings 
by  the  sequestrated  estates  of  the  Saxon  lords.  Among 
these  were  Robert  de  Bruis,  Jardine,  Comyn,  Pierre  de 
Bailleul,  Seigneur  de  Fescamps,  and  Le  Seigneur  de  Jean- 
ville,  all  mentioned  by  the  Norman  chronicler;  and  the  three 
tirst  were  transferred  to  lands  in  the  north  of  England. 
Cumberland  and  Lothian  were  claimed  by  both  the  English 
and  the  Scots  at  tliat  time.  Bruis  or  Bruce  and  Cumyn 
through  marriages,  and  the  others  probably  in  a  similar 
way,  obtained  a  footing  in  Dumfriesshire,  where  the  war- 
like character  of  the  natives  is  still  shown  by  the  traces  of 
Roman  foi'tresses  and  encampments  built  along  the  Borders 
in  early  ages  to  oppose  their  advance  upon  South  Britain. 
Here  the  Norman  settlers  intermarried  with  the  Maxwells, 
Murrays,  Carlyles,  Kirkpatiicks,  Crichtons,  Carrutherses, 
Irvings,  Grahames,  Griersons,  Fergussons,  and  other  families 
in  Annandale,  who,  after  Cumberland  finally  became  Eng- 
lish, formed  an  eflfectual  barrier  against  any  further  en- 
croachments from  the  south. 

The  rivers  Esk  and  Sark,  and  a  morass  called  Solway 
Moss,  make  a  natural  boundary  between  Cumberland  and 
Dumfriesshire,  added  to  the  bleak  tract  of  country  extend- 


2  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

ing  for  about  seven  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Annan  to 
the  Sark.  The  deep  valley  of  the  Annan  and  the  Ijanks  of 
the  Milk,  with  their  isolated  towns  and  villages,  occasion- 
ally recall  Switzerland  to  the  modei'n  tourist,  and  before 
the  union  of  the  two  crowns  were  favourite  hiding  places 
for  outlaws  and  bandits,  as  the  arm  of  the  law  had  dithculty 
in  penetrating  to  these  remote  regions,  except  through  the 
chiefs  of  the  clans.  The  English  borderers  were  as  rude 
and  nearly  as  aggressive  as  their  Scottish  neighbours,  so 
that  peace  never  existed  long  between  North  Cumberland 
and  South  Dumfriesshire,  whatever  treaties  were  signed 
by  their  respective  kings.  Gretna  or  Graitney,  Annan, 
Newbie,  Sark  or  Morton,  Caerlaverock,  Holmains,  Dun- 
skellie  (now  Cove),  Lochwood,  Hoddam,  Johnstone,  Close- 
burn  or  Killosburn,  Amisfield,  and  Comlongan  all  possessed 
fortified  towers,  where  the  owners  occasionally  withstood  a 
siege.  The  Castle  of  Lochmaben,  which  the  King  retained 
in  his  own  hands,  had  walls  eight  feet  in  thickness,  and  the 
sovereigns  occasionally  made  it  their  temporary  residence. 

Early  in  the  12th  century,  Robert  de  Bruis  or  Bruce 
held  the  title  of  Lord  of  the  Valley  of  Annan  or  Annan- 
d  lie,  besides  large  estates  in  Yorkshire,  where  he  founded 
the  monastery  of  Gysburn.  He  gave  to  this  house  the 
patronage  of  all  the  churches  in  Annandale,  and  his  son 
and  gi-andson,  William  and  Robert,  confirmed  the  gift. 
The  original  deeds,  preserved  at  York,  are  signed,  among 
others,  by  Humphrey  de  Gai'dine  (Jardine)  and  Adam 
Carlile,  both  well-known  border  names,  and  the  churches 
described  are  Lochmaben,  Kirkpatrick,  Cumbertrees,  Rein 
Patrik  (now  Redkirk),  Gretenhow  (or  Gretna),  and  Annan. 
In  the  subsequent  wai-s  between  England  and  Scotland 
these  churches  were  made  over  to  the  See  of  Glasgow,  and 
long  before  the  Reformation  were  generally  sold   to   lay 


AND    THE    BORDER    WARS.  3 

patrons.  Between  1170  and  1180  William  de  Bruce,  Lord 
of  Annandale,  granted  lands  to  Adam  Carlyle,  a  native  of 
the  soil  who  lield  property  in  Cumberland,  and  the  lands 
of  Newbie  in  Dumfriesshire ;  and  in  a  charter  of  Henry  de 
Grjeme,  ancestor  of  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  the  district  of 
Dumfriesshire  from  AVampliray,  inclusive,  to  Greist'ita  Grene 
is  granted  to  David  Carlyle,  Lord  of  Torthorwald.  Tliese 
early  charters  have  no  dates,  which  can  only  be  ascertained 
by  the  I'eign  of  the  King  of  Scotland  under  whom  they 
were  conferred.  "  Twa  score  Carvels  (Carlyles)  frae  Cock- 
pool  "  are  mentioned  in  an  ancient  ballad  called  "  The 
Bedesman  of  Nithsdale  "  as  having  followed  Ricliard  I.  of 
England  to  the  Crusades. 

The  pedigree  of  the  Bruces  goes  back  into  the  j-egions  of 
fable.  As  Princes  of  Orkney  and  Caithness,  they  had  a 
connection  with  Scotland  in  the  9th  century,  and  their 
chief  married  the  daughter  of  Malcolm  II.  of  Scotland. 
His  son,  Regenwald,  a  sea  king,  roved  through  Europe  for 
a  bride,  and  found  one  in  the  daughter  of  Vladimir  the 
Great,  the  first  Christian  Czar  of  Russia.  Regenwald 
iinally  settled  in  Normandy,  and  his  grandson  Robert 
followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Conqueror.  His  descendant 
Robert  Bruce,  Lord  of  Annandale,  married  the  natural 
daughter  of  the  Scottish  King,  William,  who,  following  the 
example  of  his  son-in-law  (up  to  that  time  Scotland  was 
without  a  coat  of  arms),  assumed  a  heraldic  distinction, 
and  bore  a  lion  on  his  shield.  The  son  of  this  Bruce 
espoused  King  William's  niece,  and  was  the  father  of  the 
Lord  of  Annandale,  known  as  the  comjDetitor  for  the  throne 
of  Scotland  in  1286.  Another  branch  of  the  family  i-e- 
mained  in  England,  where  it  still  exists ;  while  the  house 
of  Robert  the  First  became  extinct  in  the  male  line  with 
his  only  son  David  II.,  for  his  four  brothers,  all  slaughtered 


4  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

duriiiL!'  the  loiii;'  wai"  with  Ena-land,  liad  died  childless. 
His  daughter  Marjory  died  before  her  father,  but  she  had 
married  "Walter,  son  of  James,  High  Steward  of  Scotland, 
and  was  the  ancestress  of  the  Stuarts  or  Stewards,  and  of 
her  gracious  Majesty. 

Robert  Bruce,  the  son  of  the  com])etitor.  and  father 
of  the  great  Bruce,  seems  to  have  been  English  in  his 
sympathies,  and  had  formed  a  second  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  Edward's  ally,  the  Earl  of  Ulster.  It  was  not 
till  he  died  that  his  son  (who  had  received  a  pardon  fi-om 
Edward  I.  for  killing  a  stag  in  the  King's  English  forests) 
took  an  ostensible  part  on  the  side  of  Scotland.  The  elder 
Bruce  had  fought  with  Edward  I.  and  witli  Louis  IX. 
in  the  Holy  Land,  and  it  is  probable  that  one  of  the 
family,  like  tlie  Carliles,  also  accompanied  Ricliard  I.  to 
the  Crusades,  for  the  Jardines,  Johnstones,  and  Kirk- 
patricks  carry  the  same  saltire  and  chief  as  the  Bruces 
on  their  shields,  and  it  is  believed  that  tliey  adopted  them 
when  fighting  with  the  Lord  of  Annandale  against  the 
Saracens. 

With  the  Bruces  and  Baliols,  the  Grtemes  or  Grahames, 
Carliles,  and  Corries,  seem  at  this  date  to  have  been  the 
cliief  landowners  in  Dumfriesshire.  The  Grahames  and 
Carliles  claimed  direct  descent — the  first  from  King  Grime, 
and  the  last  from  Malcolm  II.  of  Scotland  ;  and  with  their 
kindred,  the  Kirkpatricks,  were  on  good  terms  apparently 
with  the  Norman  immigrants,  as  their  names  are  frequently 
found  together  on  inquisitions,  or  as  witnesses  to  the  same 
deeds.  Two  of  the  sisters  of  the  great  Bruce  married 
Annandale  men.  Sir  Christopher  Seton  and  Sir  William  do 
Carlile,  and  the  wife  of  Carlile  left  numerous  descendants. 
But  tlie  Carlile  property,  which  once  comprised  half  of 
Annandale,  was  reduced  in  1700  to  a  few  isolated  estates: 


AND    THE    BORDER    WARS. 


and  no  Carlile  appears  as  a  Member  of  Parliament  for  any 
part  of  Dumfriesshire  after  1357.  The  Lord  Carlile  who 
supped  with  Bothwell  in  1567,  on  the  eve  of  the  murder  of 
King  Henry,  could  not  sign  his  own  name. 

The  second  son  of  Sir  "VVilliani  de  Carlile  and  Margaret 
Bruce  was  killed  at  tlie  battle  of  Durham  in  1346,  leavinjr 
one  child,  Susanna,  who  was  afterwards  married  to  Robert 
Corrie.      A   charter   in   favour   of  his   brother  William   de 


,.-..„  m,.^ 


IIOLYWOOD    CIli'itCH. 


Carlile  from  Robert  Bruce  styles  him  the  King's  sister's 
son;  and  another  dated  at  Melrose,  1363,  from  David  II. 
in  favour  of  Susanna  Carlile  and  of  her  husband,  Robert 
Corrie,  calls  the  deceased  Thomas  Carlile  the  King's  blood 
relation,  and  grants  to  his  daugliter  and  her  spouse  the 
lands  along  the  southern  coast  of  Dumfriesshire,  which  had 
belonged  to  her  grandfather.  The  Corries  (the  name  is 
Celtic  for  hollow)  were  the  hereditary  keepers  of  the  castle 


6  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

of  Locli  Doon  in  1306,  and  a  little  later,  owing  to  the 
marriage  above-named,  added  greatly  to  their  possessions 
in  Dumfriesshire.  Besides  the  Barony  of  Corrie,  compris- 
ing the  modern  parishes  of  Hutton  and  Corrie,  they  owned 
Keldwood  in  the  modei'n  Cumberland  parish  of  Kirkandrews- 
upon-Esk,  Comlongan,  Rutliwell,  the  Barony  of  Newbie, 
the  Barony  of  Stapleton,  Robgill,  and  part  of  the  parish  of 
St.  Patrick,  now  divided  into  Kirkpatrick-Fleming ;  and 
Gretna,  which  includes  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Redkirk  or 
Rampatrick,  and  the  celebrated  Lochmaben  Stone,  whei'e 
treaties  were  signed  with  the  English.  But  during  the  15t]i 
century  the  rebellion  of  the  Douglases  involved  Dumfries- 
shire in  a  civil  war.  In  1484  George  Corrie  took  the 
side  of  the  insurgents  against  the  King,  and  when  they 
were  defeated  he  was  outlawed,  and  part  of  his  estates 
transferred  to  Thomas  Carruthers,  a  loyal  freeman  in 
Annandale.  His  brothers,  Thomas  and  William  Corrie, 
for  some  time  retained  a  portion  of  the  family  lands,  but 
subject  to  constant  forays  on  the  part  of  their  neighbours, 
and  in  spite  of  numei'ous  lawsuits  they  could  get  no 
redress.  Yet  Thomas  Corrie  of  Kelwood  and  Newbie  was 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  appointed  in  1529,  with  the 
King's  treasurer  and  two  Scottish  knights,  an  arbiter  in  a 
family  matter  between  the  Earls  of  Eglintoun  and  Glen- 
cairn.     He  married  a  daughter  of  Lord  Herries. 

Dumfriesshire  supplied  many  soldiers  for  the  service 
of  Sir  William  Wallace,  who  called  himself  guai'dian  of 
the  kingdom  for  King  John  ;  and  as  Lord  of  Annan, 
Baliol*  seems  to  have  had  his  strongest  support  in  Annan- 

*Balior.s  father  was  buried  in  1^()9  at  Sweetheart  Abbey,  near  Dum- 
fries, which  had  been  founded  by  his  wife  Devorgilla,  daughter  of  Allan, 
Lord  of  Gallowa.y.  She  also  founded  Holj-wood,  and  built  the  Old 
Bridge  at  Dumfries. 


AND   THE   BOEDER   WARS.  7 

dale.  Lochmaben,  Sanquhar,  Caerlaverock,  Graitney,  and 
Annan  changed  hands  very  frequently  between  1296  and 
1370,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  pi'esent  century  an  inscrip- 
tion was  still  legible  on  a  tomb  in  Graitney  Churchyard 
showing  that  it  belonged  to  a  near  relative  of  Wallace. 


Note. — Hosfaiies  for  the  Ransom  of  David  II.,  1357. — "John  Steward 
(Robt.  III.)  ;  Humphrey  Kirkpatrick  ;  Reynald,  son  and  heir  of  Sir  J. 
More  ;  Gilbert,  ditto  of  John  Kennedj- ;  John,  ditto  of  John  Berkelej' ; 
John  Fleming,  son  of  the  Earl  of  Wigton  ;  John,  son  of  Andrea  de 
Valence  ;  Patrick,  son  of  Sir  David  Graham  ;  Robt.,  son  of  Sir  Wm. 
Cunningham  ;  Robt.,  scm  of  Sir  John  Steward  of  Darnley  ;  Robt.,  son 
and  heir  of  Sir  Robt.  Darzel ;  Thos.,  son  to  Robt.  Esk  ;  Wm.,  son  of 
Thos.  Somerville  ;  David,  son  of  David  de  Wemyss  ;  Thos.,  son  of 
Wm.  de  la  Haye  of  Loughewode ;  John,  son  and  heir  to  John  Gray  ; 
John,  son  and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  Sutherland,  is  sent  to  London  with 
his  father  to  appear  before  the  Chancellor  ;  Wm.,  son  and  heir  to  the 
Earl  of  Rosse,  is  sick,  and  King  David  and  the  Bishops  of  St.  Andrew, 
Brechin,  and  the  Earl  of  March  have  undertaken  that  he  shall  be 
delivered  if  he  is  alive  to  the  Keejier  of  Berwick  before  Easter,  and  if 
he  be  dead,  that  the  next  heir  of  the  said  Earl  shall  come  in  his  place. " 
— (Orifjinal  MS.  in  London  Record  Office. ) 


CHAPTER    11. 


A  Brief  Account  of  the  Relations  of  Scotland  with  Eng- 
land   BEFORE    the    ACCESSION    OF    THE    StUARTS — ThE    EaRLY 

Scottish  Church — Royal  Letters — Death  of  Alexander 
III. — King  John  Baliol — Bruce — The  Scots  Appeal  to  the 
Pope — Carliles  The  Stewarts  or  Stuarts— Sir  Williasi 
Wallace  —  The  Kirkpatricks  —  Johnstones  —  Edward 
Baliol — Douglas — The  Kerrs — Bruce's  Army — A  Dum- 
fries Inquest — Escheats  in  Annandale — Eustace  Maxwell 
— Edward  TI.  —  Scottish  Prisoners  in  England  —  Safe 
Conducts. 

^O  late  as  the  reign  of  Alexander  III.  (died  1286)  the 
'^J  district  extending  from  the  Solway  to  the  Clyde  was 
still  known  as  Cumbria,  or  the  land  of  the  Celts;  while 
the  country  between  Xortliumbria  and  the  Forth  was 
called  Saxony,  from  the  number  of  English  immigrants 
who  had  sought  a  refuge  there  when  William  the  Con 
queror  laid  waste  the  district  north  of  the  Huinber.  In 
Cumbria  Christianity  was  introduced  from  lona  before  it 
had  been  embraced  l)y  the  Saxons  of  South  Britain.  St. 
Ninian,  from  Rome,  built  a  church  in  Galloway  in  412. 
and  that  long  stood  alone,  but  the  Irish  St.  Colomba  and 
his  followers  had  settled  at  lona,  and  were  active  mission- 
aries in  Dumfriesshire  in  the  6th  century.  "  Tis  plain," 
says  Maitland,  one  of  the  first  authorities  on  early  Scottish 
history,  "that  the  Christian  Scots  were  converted  before 
the  arrival  of  Palladius,  the  first  bishop,  by  persons  of  a 
different  communion  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  is  manifest 


THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES.  <) 

by  phe  disputes  afterwards  carried  on  Ijy  Coleman  and  other 
Scottish  chiefs  against  the  followers  of  Austin  the  Monk 
(St.  Augustine)  concerning  the  keeping  of  Easter,  which 
by  its  being  kept  by  the  Scots  according  to  the  practice  of 
the  Eastern  Church  sliews  that  our  ancestors,  instead  of 
being  proselytized  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  owed  their 
conversion  to  the  Greek  Church,  as  no  doubt  the  Britons 
did,  by  their  maintaining  the  same  doctrine."  Soul's  Seat 
or  Salsit,  in  Galloway,  was  always  admitted  to  be  a  non- 
Roman  ecclesiastical  house.  As  the  Danes  and  Xoi'wegians 
possessed  the  Hebrides,  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  some  authority 
over  Argyllshire,  it  is  probable  tliat  they  had  a  footing  in 
Dumfriesshire.  By  or  Bie,  a  Norse  termination,  is  found 
to  several  Dumfries  names  ;  and  the  ancient  runic  cross 
at  Ruthwell,  adorned  with  Christian  symbols,  is  similar  to 
another  erected  at  Campbeltown  in  Argyll,  and  they  are  the 
only  two  remaining  in  Scotland.  The  names  of  Bi'idekirk, 
Kirkpatrick,  Redkirk  or  Rampatrick  come  from  Irish 
saints.  St.  Mungo  is  also  Celtic  ;  and  the  Roi'iesons 
anglicized  their  appellation  from  MacRorie,  its  original 
form  (borne  by  the  Lords  of  Bute),  as  did  the  Thomsons, 
Fergussons,  Andersons,  and  some  other  families  with  the 
termination  son. 

The  Greek,  rather  than  Roman,  source  fr  an  which  the 
Columba  Christians  derived  their  faith  perhaps  accounts 
for  tlie  prevalence  of  Greek  Christian  names  in  the  earliest 
records  of  Dumfriesshire.  Agamemnon,  Homer,  Achilles, 
Michael,  Hercules,  Constantine,  Simon,  Alexander,  Andreas, 
Nicolas  (for  both  men  and  women),  Helen,  Agnes,  Catherine, 
Sapientia,  and  many  more  frequently  appear.  Chalmers 
has  conjectured  that  all  the  Norman  families  found  in 
Annandale  in  the  13th  century  were  invited  to  settle  there 
by  David  I.,  who,  as  Earl  of  Cumberland,  had  b^ien  com- 


10  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Iianion  in  arms  with  Robert  Bruce  at  the  Court  of  Henry  I. 
This  Robert  Bruce  was  probably  the  same  who  came  over 
with  William  the  Conqueror  or  his  son,  and  he  appears  as 
a  witness  in  deeds  connected  with  Henry  I.  Robert  de 
Comyn  (the  same  as  the  French  Comines)  was  made  Earl 
of  Northumberland,  and  was  killed  at  the  siege  of  Alnwick 
in  1093.  Malcolm  Canmore,  King  of  Scotland,  who  was 
killed  on  the  same  occasion,  did  homage  to  England  for  the 
county  of  Cumberland,  then  united  to  Dumfriesshire,  a 
wild  and  uncontrolled  part  of  Scotland ;  and  his  son  David 
having  seen  the  superior  refinement  of  the  Norman  French 
knights  to  those  of  England  and  Scotland,  hoped  by  their 
means  to  civilize  the  natives  of  Cumbria,  who  were  much 
tlie  same  as  the  wild  Scots  or  Galwegians.  The  crusades 
bi'ought  the  military  of  all  nations  together  on  the  fields  of 
Palestine,  and  made  tliem  acquainted  with  each  other's 
characteristics.  Like  Malcolm  III.,  Alexander  III.  did 
liomage  to  the  English  King,  his  brother-in-law,  for  Cum- 
lierland  ;  and  everything  prophesied  the  closest  relations  in 
the  future  between  the  two  countries,  when  a  series  of 
premature  deaths,  and  what  some  call  the  unprincipled 
ambition,  others  the  high  policy  of  Edward  I.,  inaugurated 
a  long  war,  and  all  its  consequent  miseries.  The  misfor- 
tunes of  Scotland  towards  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Alex- 
ander III.  began  with  the  death  of  the  King's  younger  son 
David  in  1281.  In  1283  the  elder  son,  Alexander,  Prince 
of  Scotland,  also  died,  and  a  letter  from  Sir  Raoul  Fleming 
to  the  King  of  England  requested  a  safe  conduct  for  him- 
self and  the  Sieur  de  Baliol,  as  well  as  for  "  tlieir  young 
lady,"  widow  of  the  Prince,  through  England,  on  lier  way 
back  to  her  father's  Court  in  Flanders.  On  February  5, 
the  Scottish  nobles  had  recognised  Margaret,  daughter  of 
the  late  Margaret,  Princess  of  Scotland,  by  her  marriage 


AND    THE    BOEDER    WARS.  11 

with  Eric,  King  of  Norway,  as  their  future  Queen,  and 
Edward  lost  no  time  in  obtaining,  with  much  expense,  a 
dispensation  from  the  Pope  for  his  own  son  to  marry  within 
the  prohibited  degrees,  witli  a  view  to  a  future  wedding 
between  this  youthful  heiress  and  the  Prince  of  AVales. 

A  letter  from  Alexander  III.  to  Edward,  in  April  of  the 
same  yeai',  thanks  the  King  for  a  long  course  of  benefits,  and 
for  his  sympathy  transmitted  by  his  messenger.  Friar  John 
of  St.  Germains,  which  afforded  him  great  solace  in  these 
intolerable  difficulties  and  troubles  which  he  has  sustained, 
and  still  feels,  through  the  death  of  his  most  beloved  son, 
the  King's  dearest  nephew.*  Though  death  had  carried  off 
all  his  blood  in  Scotland,  yet  one  remained,  the  child  of  his 
own  dearest  daughter,  King  Edward's  niece,  and  now,  under 
Divine  Providence,  the  heir  apparent  of  Scotland.  Much 
good  may  yet  be  in  store  for  them,  and  death  only  can 
dissolve  their  league  of  unity.  He  requests  a  reply  through 
his  messenger,  Andrew  Abbot  of  Cupar.  The  letter  is 
dated  Edinburgh  Castle,  20th  April,  and  35th  of  his  reign. 

A  letter  to  Edward  I.  from  this  young  Prince  Alexander 
is  still  extant.  He  styles  himself  the  English  King's  "own 
nephew,  and  first-born  son  of  Alexander,  King  of  Scot- 
land, to  his  most  hearty  uncle  the  King,"  and  expresses  the 
warmest  affection  for  himself,  the  Queen,  and  their  children, 
and  wishes  to  hear  of  them  more  frequently.  He  believes 
the  King  will  be  glad  to  hear  good  news  of  himself  and  his 
kindred,  and  as  he  has  no  seal  of  his  own  (he  was  but  six- 
teen) he  uses  that  of  Sir  W.  de  Saint  Clair,  his  guardian. 
His  sister  also  wrote  a  year  later  to  the  King,  telling  him 
that  she  is  "  healthy  and  lively  by  God's  mercy,  and  hopes 
he  will  constantly  inform  her  of  his  own  state,  which  God 

*  From  the  Scottish  Chronicles  collected  in  the  London  Record  Office, 
edited  by  Joseph  Bain,  F.S.A. 


12  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

keep,  and  of  his  wishes  towards  her."  She  seals  with  the 
seal  of  Dame  Luce  de  Hessewell,  her  chamherer — lady  of 
the  bed-chamber — and  concludes  with  a  thousand  saluta- 
tions. The  Armstrongs  wei^e  even  then  beginning  to  give 
trouble.  One  named  John  had  been  killed  by  James  de 
Multon,  for  whom  Alexander  III.  solicits  a  pardon  from 
his  brother-in-law,  1281. 

The  Scottish  King  re-married  after  the  death  of  his  son, 
but  witliin  a  year  was  killed  by  a  fall  from  his  horse  over 
a  clifi"  in  Fifeshire  at  the  age  of  44,  and  with  him  ended  the 
line  of  the  native  Celtic  kings.  Edward  I.  at  once  lent  the 
King  of  N^orway,  father  of  the  infant  Queen,  2000  marks 
to  bring  her  to  Scotland,  and  granted  annuities  to  several 
Norwegians  of  rank  ;  but  the  child  died,  possibly  of  sea 
sickness,  in  Orkney,  before  she  had  touched  the  Scottish 
shore,  and  while  Edward  was  fitting  out  a  great  vessel  at 
Hull  to  bring  ''  Margaret,  the  damsel  of  Scotland,"  to  Eng- 
land. The  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  wrote  to  beg  him  to  come 
to  the  Borders  to  prevent  disorders,  for  the  Lord  of  Annan- 
dale  (Robert  Bruce,  the  grandfather)  had  unexpectedly 
arrived  with  a  formidable  retinue  at  Perth,  and  vv-ith 
eleven  other  competitors  was  prepared  to  dispute  the 
crown.  The  claims  of  nine  Avere  soon  dismissed,  and  of 
the  pretensions  of  John  Baliol,  Lord  of  Galloway  and 
Annan,  of  John  Corny n.  Lord  of  Badenoch,  and  of  Robert 
Bruce,  Edward  T.  gave  the  casting  vote  in  favour  of  Baliol, 
as  descended  from  the  eldest  female  branch,  but  on  condi- 
tions which  destroyed  the  independence  of  Scotland,  as  they 
included  the  maintenance  of  English  garrisons  in  all  the 
principal  fortresses,  and  the  performance  by  Baliol  of  hom- 
age to  Edward  for  all  his  Scottish  provinces. 

Comyn  renounced  his  own  claim  to  support  that  of 
Baliol,  his  brother-in-law,  and  was  appointed  to  high  office 


AND   THE    BORDER   WARS.  18 

by  Edward  I.  All  the  Scottish  noblemen  except  William 
Douglas  took  an  oath  of  fidelity  for  themselves  and  their 
heirs  in  the  most  solemn  terms  to  Edward  at  Roxburgh, 
Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and  other  Scottish  towns  in  1296, 
and  the  documents  which  record  it,  with  their  names  and 
seals  attached,  called  the  Ragman's  Roll,  are  still  preserved. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Bruces,  the  Dumfriesshire  lairds 
seem  generally  to  liave  kept  the  oath.  Dumfriesshire  was 
indeed  held  by  the  English  till  the  disadvantageous  peace 
with  Scotland,  made  during  the  minority  of  Edward  III., 
and  which  an  old  English  writer  treats  as  a  judgment  on 
England  for  the  murder  of  Edward  II.  ;  and  the  Baillies, 
Cathcarts,  Craigies,  Gordons,  Grahames,  Kirkpatricks, 
Setons,*  St.  Glairs,  Stewards  of  Bonkill,  Carliles  of  Tor- 
thorwald,  and  others,  particularly  Annandale  men,  fought 
for  the  English  Ions;  after  the  death  of  Edward  I. 

In  the  civil  wars  occasioned  by  the  arrival  on  Scottish  soil 
of  Prince  James  Stuart  in  1715,  and  of  Prince  Charles 
Edward  in  1745,  some  members  of  a  family  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  King  George,  while  the  rest  took  up  arms  for  his 
opponent  in  order  to  save  the  family  property,  and  probably 
this  was  the  case  in  the  time  of  the  Plantagents.  Even  the 
horrible  penalties  for  high  treason  inllicted  in  England  so 
late  as  1745,  and  which  were  carried  out  most  illegally 
(and  apparently  introduced)  under  Edward  I.  (the  Scots 
not  being  his  subjects  could  not  be  accused  of  high  treason) 
did  not  deter  some  of  those  most  likely  to  fall  into  English 

*  With  the  Setons  fear  must  have  been  the  motive,  for  the  father  of 
Bruce's  brother-in-law  was  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered  by  the  English. 

The  men  of  Galloway,  descended  from  the  wild  Scots  who  inhabited 
the  Highlands  and  borders  of  Dumfriesshire,  are  said  to  have  thrown  off 
their  clotlies  when  they  went  into  battle.  Speed  depicts  them  as  wear- 
ing nothing  but  a  blanket  or  plaid  wrapped  round  them,  and  held 
together  by  the  hand  like  an  Arab's  burnoose.  The  women  v/ore  the 
same  garment,  but  made  a  hood  of  it. 


14  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

hands  from  taking  up  arms  for  Robert  Bruce.  The  Ear] 
of  Ulster,  related  to  both  Bruce  and  the  Stewards  of  Scot- 
land, gave  his  support  to  Edward  I.  Robert  Bruce  effected 
an  alliance  with  the  native  princes  of  Wales  and  with 
part  of  Ii'eland,  and  in  time  many  of  the  lairds  of  Celtic 
descent  joined  his  standard.  Of  Norman  origin,  it  was 
natural  that  with  those  Scottish  chiefs  of  Norman  descent 
he  should  at  first  adhere  to  Edward  I.,  and  it  was  not  till 
he  was  excommunicated  by  the  Pope,  and  outlawed  by  the 
civil  power  for  the  death  of  Comyn  in  the  chancel  of  the 
Grey  Friars'  Church  at  Dumfries,  that  he  openly  assumed 
the  role  of  a  Scottish  patz-iot.  Almost  the  last  of  Edward's 
acts  was  to  ox'der  the  execution  of  Thomas  and  Alexander 
Bruce,  who  had  been  taken  prisonei's  in  Galloway  as  they 
were  marching  at  the  head  of  some  Irish  forces  to  join  their 
brother.  Although  desperately  wounded  they  were  carried 
actually  bleeding  on  to  the  scaffold  at  Carlisle  (February  9, 
1307).  Three  months  before,  their  brother  Nigel  Bruce, 
had  been  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered  at  Perth  by  order  of 
the  English  governor ;  and  the  Countess  of  Buchan,  with 
King  Robert's  daughter  Marjory,  his  second  wife,  the 
Countess  of  Carrick  (as  she  was  called),  and  his  sisters, 
Christine  and  Marie,  who  was  afterwai"ds  exchanged  for 
Walter  Comyn,  and  married  Sir  Nigel  Campbell,  the  ances- 
tor of  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  were  all  dragged  out  of  the 
sanctuary  of  St.  Duthoc  at  Tain,  where  they  had  taken 
refuge,  and  three  of  the  ladies,  including  Bruce's  sisters, 
were  imprisoned  in  cages.  In  February,  1314,  King 
Robert's  wife  was  in  prison  at  Rochester  Castle.  Edward 
II.,  then  reigning,  seems  to  have  been  very  humane  witli 
regard  to  the  Scottish  prisoners,  and  he  ordered  her  at  that 
time  to  have  "  a  sufficient  chamber,"  and  20s  a  week  for 
expenses.     She  was  also  to  be  allowed  exercise  within  the 


AND   THE    BORDER    WARS.  1.) 

Castle  and  iSt.  Andrew's  Priory  at  suitable  times.  A  year 
later  she  was  exchanged  with  her  sister-in-law,  Christine,  her 
stepdaughter,  Marjory,  her  brother-in-law,  the  Earl  of  Mar, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow  for  some  of  the  English  prisoners 
captured  at  the  battle  of  Bannockburn. 

In  later  days  nearly  every  Scottish  family  has  tried  to 
show  that  its  ancestors  was  on  the  side  of  Bruce  or  Wallace, 
but  unfortunately  this  cannot  be  proved.  The  appeal  by 
the  Scottish  nobles  to  the  Pope  stating  the  proofs  that 
Scotland  had  a  right  to  be  independent,  alleged  truly 
enough  that  the  signatures  to  the  Ragman's  Roll  had  been 
obtained  by  the  "  threats  and  horrid  tortures "  to  which 
Edwai^d  had  sulyected  all  who  opposed  him.  It  stated 
that  the  Scottish  nation  (Speed,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
derives  the  name  of  the  Scots  from  Scyth)  issuing  out  of 
greater  Scythia,  passed  the  Tyrenian  Sea  and  the  pillars  of 
Hercules,  and  for  a  long  time  resided  in  Spain.  (In  Speed's 
days  Cape  Finisterre  was  called  Scyth  icus  in  remembrance 
of  their  sojourn  in  Spain.)  There,  said  the  memorial,  they 
could  not  be  subdued,  though  among  a  very  fierce  people, 
and  they  had  eventually  found  their  way  to  the  west  of 
Scotland,  where  they  expelled  the  Britons  and  destroyed 
the  aborigines,  maintaining  themselves  against  the  invasions 
of  Danes,  Norwegians,  and  English.  This  was  dated  from 
Aberbrothock,  1320.  Undoubtedly  the  Scots  would  have 
earlier  shaken  off  the  English  yoke  if  there  had  not  been 
divisions  among  their  leading  men.  It  was  the  attitude  of 
the  Scottish  nobles,  including  Bruce  and  Comyn,  that 
caused  the  defeat  of  Wallace  ;  and  Sir  John  Steward  of 
Menteith,  who  betrayed  the  popular  hero  to  the  English, 
was  on  friendly  terms  with  Bruce,  and  great  uncle  to  his 
son-in-law.  The  tempoi^alities  of  the  bishopric  of  Glasgow, 
in  Annandale,  were  granted  to  Sir  John  Steward  for  "great 


16  THK    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

services"  by  Edward  I.  in  1306.  These  great  services  were 
the  betrayal  of  Wallace,  though  Sir  John  has  apologists 
who  try  to  prove  his  innocence  in  the  matter.  Sir  William 
Carlile,  King  Robert's  brother-in-law,  did  not  join  the  Scots 
till  1317.  He  then  forfeited  his  lands  in  Cumberland,  but 
as  his  sons  William  and  John,  and  his  brothers  Thomas 
and  James,  all  adhered  to  England,  it  is  probable  that  the 
descendants  of  one  or  other  of  them  obtained  the  restoration 
of  the  lands  of  Newbie  in  Cumberland,  which  bore  the  same 
name  as  the  paternal  inheritance  in  Dumfriesshire.  In 
later  centuries  there  were  English  Carliles  of  some  distinc- 
tion v/lio  claimed  an  origin  from  the  owners  of  Newbie  in 
Cumberland.  In  the  State  accounts  of  Edward  II.,  Sir 
Thomas  de  Torthorald  —  i.e.,  Carlile  of  Torthorald  —  is 
described  as  being  killed  in  the  English  Warden's  raid  on 
the  Scots  near  Redcross,  November  30,  1314.  The  same 
year  Johanna,  widow  of  Sir  James  de  Torthorald,  killed  in 
the  King's  service  at  Stirling,  writes  to  acknowledge  8  qrs. 
of  wheat  and  10  qrs.  of  beans  and  pease  sent  to  her  from 
the  Kinaf's  stores  "  for  the  sustenance  of  lierself  and  her 
children."  She  appends  her  seal  to  the  letter,  and  a  little 
later  was  granted  an  annuity.  On  the  24th  of  July,  1347, 
an  inquisition,  held  at  Lochmaben  under  a  writ  of  the 
Duchy  of  Lancaster,  by  Gilbert  de  Joneston,  Wm.  do 
Levyngton,  Robt.  de  Crosby,  Adam  Latimer,  Thos.  de  la 
Beck,  Wm.  Mounceux,  Robert  son  of  John,  Wm.  del 
Lathes,  Nicolas  del  Skaleby,  Adam  del  Yate,  and  Helias 
Post,  jurors,  declared  William  de  Carlile  to  be  the  son  and 
heir  of  the  late  John  de  Carlile  (second  son  of  Sir  William 
de  Carlile  and  Lady  Marjory  Bruce),  and  nearest  heir  to 
his  uncle  William  de  Carlile.  They  further  show  that  the 
late  William  did  nothing  against  his  lord  (the  English 
King)  at  any  time  ;  nor  did  William,  son  and  heir  of  the 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  17 

late  John  de  Carlile,  that  lie  should  not  recover  his  lands 
of  Luce,  in  the  Burgh  of  Annan,  Loughwode,  Woodliouse. 
ifec.  Througliout  his  career  Bruce  was  remarkable  for  his 
magnanimity  towards  his  enemies,  and  even  towards  his 
faithless  friends ;  and  the  same  quality  was  not  absent  in 
his  son  David,  nor  in  their  opponents,  Edward  II.  and  III. 
The  difficult  position  of  Dumfriesshire  lairds  was  evidently 
taken  into  consideration  by  the  Scottish  and  English 
Monarchs,  for  Thomas  de  Torthorald,  the  second  son  of 
Sir  W.  de  Carlile  and  Marjory  Bruce,  had  been  killed  the 
previous  year  at  the  battle  of  Durham  when  fighting  by  the 
side  of  David  II.  The  head  of  the  family  in  1431  married 
Elizabeth  Kirkpatrick.  Their  grandson,  Alexander  Carlile, 
second  son  of  the  first  Lord  Carlile  of  Torthorald,  received 
Bridekirk  as  his  portion,  and  his  direct  male  descendant, 
John,  son  of  Thomas,  son  of  Alexander  Carlile  of  Bride- 
kirk, had  a  charter  of  the  ecclesiastical  lands  of  Torthorald 
in  1605  as  one  of  the  male  heirs  of  the  original  grantee. 
Kobert  Carlile,  laird  of  Bridekirk,  was  one  of  the  nearest 
of  kin  who  took  out  letters  of  slain  for  the  murder  of  James 
Douglas,  Lord  of  Torthorald,  who  had  married  the  heiress 
of  the  Carlile  barony,  and  when  he  "  was  walking  in  peace- 
able and  quiet  manner,"  as  the  indictment  set  forth,  "upon 
the  High  Street  of  the  Burgh  of  Edinburgh,  looking  for 
nothing  less  than  any  trouble,  pursuit,  or  injury  against 
"  (14th  July,  1608),  was  stabbed  by  William  Stewart, 
.. .  ose  father.  Captain  James  Stewart,  had  been  killed  by 
Douglas  in  159G.  The  relatives  on  each  side  wei"e  ordered 
to  find  caution  for  keeping  the'  peace,  as  "  His  Majesty* 
(James  VI.)  cannot  abide,"  says  the  legal  document,  "the 

*  In  spite  of  this  objection  by  James  VI.  the  practice  was  evidently 
in  full  force  in  Dumfriesshire  in  1028.  (See  Chap.  IX.  ;  also  Chap.  V. 
about  Douglas.) 

•2 


18  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

reviving  of  that  ugly  monstei-  of  deadly  feud,  and  will  take 
care  that  justice  is  administered  in  the  matter  if  the  said 
pursuers  will  challenge  Lord  Ochiltree  (Stewart)  as  guilty 
of  the  said  slaughter." 

But  to  return  to  earlier  times.  The  seizure  by  Edward 
I.  of  all  Scottish  deeds  and  charters  deposited  at  Perth, 
Lochmaben,  and  other  towns  held  by  his  garrisons,  afforded 
room  for  much  imagination  with  regard  to  some  of  the 
Scottish  family  histories.  The  ancestor  of  the  Grahames 
who  broke  through  the  wall  of  Severus  in  the  5th  century, 
the  descent  of  the  Kirkpatricks  from  Fingal,  and  of  the 
Stewarts  from  Banquo,  could  hardly  be  proved  in  a  court 
of  law.  The  Stuart  Celtic  pedigree  is  found  in  the  visita- 
tion of  Notts  as  early  as  1611,  but  is  demolished  by  Lord 
Hailes ;  and  the  charters  of  grants  of  lands  made  by  mem- 
bers of  the  family  to  St.  Peter's  Cathedral  at  York,  prior 
to  the  days  of  Bruce,*  show  their  Norman  origin.  The 
last  Celtic  Kings  of  Scotland  resisted  the  claim  of  the  Sees 
of  York  and  Canterbury  to  have  any  authority  over  Scot- 
tish churchmen.  The  Stewarts  are  declared  by  the  best 
chroniclers  to  be  descendants  of  Fitz-AUeyne,  one  of  the 
companions  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  was  killed  at 
Hastings.  His  relative  Alan  obtained  from  William  the 
barony  of  Oswestry,  in  Shropshire,  and  possibly  one  of  the 
family  may  have  married  Nesta,  the  daughter  of  Grillith, 
Prince  of  Wales,  as  the  pedigree  alleges,  considering  their 
near  neighbourhood,  but  there  is  no  proof  of  it.  There  is 
also  no  documentary  proof  that  Oliver  Cromwell  had  any 

*  Among  the  early  gr.ants  to  the  hospital  of  St.  Peter  of  York,  Walter 
Fitzalan,  Steward  of  the  King  of  Scotland,  grants  two  pieces  of  land 
and  a  common  pasture  for  the  souls  of  King  David  and  Malcolm,  and 
of  his  parents  and  predecessors,  and  for  the  jiresent  weal  of  King 
William.  Alan,  son  of  Walter,  Steward  of  Scotland,  witnesses  a 
charter  for  King  Malcolm.  Eudo  de  Carlile,  son  of  Adam,  son  of 
Robert,  also  grants  an  estate  in  Dumfriesshire. 


AND    THE    BOEDER    WARS.  If) 

eounection  with  the  royal  house  of  Stuart,  as  has  been 
alleged,  but  Charles  Stuart,  a  grandson  of  the  Prior  of 
Coldinghame,  half-brother  to  Queen  Mary,  did  bear  ax'ms 
against  Charles  I.  Many  interloping  Saxon  families  on 
tlie  estates  of  Celtic  laii-ds  are  said  to  have  adopted  their 
predecessors'  names  and  pedigrees.  But  a  love  of  over-long 
jjadigrees  was  always  cliaracteristic  of  Scotland.  At  the 
coronation  of  Alexander  III.  an  ancient  Herald  enumerated 
his  alleged  ancestors,  fifty-six  in  number,  from  the  first 
Scottish  King,  and  as  far  back  as  one  of  the  Pharoahs. 

It  is  supposed  that  after  swearing  fealty  to  Edward  I. 
and  his  heirs  for  ever  in  1296,  and  also  after  the  elder 
Bruce  had  been  infefted  in  the  lands  which  his  father  had 
owned  in  several  parts  of  England,  Robert  Bruce,  tlie 
younger,  and  the  Steward  family  were  impressed  with  the 
successes  of  Sir  William  Wallace  and  his  followers,  and 
made  overtures  to  join  him.  It  must  be  owned  that  their 
conduct  at  this  period  is  very  obscure.  Blind  Harry  the 
uunstrel  is  really  our  chief  authority  for  the  career  of 
William  AVallace.  The  English  contemporary  records 
scarcely  allude  to  his  exploits,  but  state  that  his  two 
brothers  surrendered  to  the  English  governor  at  Perth, 
and  were  at  once  hung,  drawn,  and  quartered.  The  Scot- 
tish writers  under  the  Stuart  dynasty  naturally  attributed 
patriotism  to  the  fathers  of  their  Kings,  throughout  these 
almost  civil  wars,  in  the  same  way  that  they  gave  them  a 
Celtic  ancestry,  which  Shakespeare  has  introduced  into 
ordinary  history  ;  but  the  English  records  relate  that  on 
July  9,  1297,  "  Robert  de  Brus,  Earl  of  Carrick,  James,  the 
Steward  of  Scotland,  and  John,  the  brother  of  the  Steward, 
confess  their  rebellion  against  the  King  (Edwai'd),  and 
place  themselves  in  his  will."  This  John  is  supposed  to 
have  been  John   Steward  of   Bonkill,   who   is  reported  to 


20  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

have  been  killed  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk  a  year  later 
figliting  for  Scotland.  Old  pedigrees  made  him  out  to  be 
the  father  of  "Walter  the  Steward,  who  married  Marjory 
Bruce,  though  Walter's  father  is  now  generally  acknow- 
ledged to  have  been  James  the  Steward,  who  married 
Egidia  de  Burgh  ;  but  is  there  evidence  beyond  that  of 
courtly  writers  (who  perhaps  like  those  in  Austria  at  the 
present  day  were  liable  to  a  penalty  and  the  suppression  of 
their  books  if  they  wrote  any  ill  of  the  monarch's  prede- 
cessors) that  John  Steward  of  Bonkill  was  killed  on  the 
side  of  Wallace  ]  He  was  certainly  alone  among  his 
kindred  if  he  assisted  the  so-called  lieutenant  of  Kinir 
John  Baliol,  who  signed  all  his  orders  in  the  name  of 
Bruce's  rival.  Baliol  was  brought  to  England  and  detained 
there  in  1296  in  consequence  of  some  of  the  Scottish  nobles 
having  persuaded  him  to  conclude  an  offensive  and  defen- 
sive alliance  with  France  when  at  war  with  England,  and 
Wallace's  rising  was  to  accomplish  the  object  contemplated 
by  that  alliance,  the  expulsion  of  the  English  garrisons 
from  Scotland.  If  he  had  declared  for  the  younger  Bruce, 
whose  family  for  four  generations  had  looked  upon  them- 
selves as  probaljle  inheritors  of  the  throne,  he  might  have 
obtained  the  full  support  of  the  Stewards  and  Bruces,  who 
were  cousins  through  the  mother  of  Robert  I.,  as  well 
as  connected  by  marriages  with  the  Anglo-Irish  de  Burghs. 
At  the  request  of  Edward  III.,  when  peace  was  temporarily 
effected  in  1328,  Sir  John  de  Carlile  of  Torthoi-ald  was 
restored  to  his  property  in  Dumfriesshire.  Sir  Roger  de 
Kirkpatrick,*  the  murderer  of  Comyn  (Baliol's  nephew), 
seems  to  have  deserted  Robert  Bruce  as  early  as  1315, 
when  we  hear  of  him  as  commander  of  Lochmaben  Castle 
(which  had   surrendered  to  Edward   II.,   when   Prince   of 

*  See  Chapter  V. 


AND   THE    BORDER   WARS. 


21 


Wales,  in  1306)  holding  it  for  the  King  of  England.  He 
received  as  pay  for  himself  and  four  esquires  <£4  16s  Od  for 
twelve  days.  At  the  same  time  and  place  Sir  William 
Heriz  and  liis  esquire  were  paid  36s;  Sir  Thomas  de  Tor- 
thorald,  kniglit,  and  his  esquire,  36s  ;  the  esquire  Alan  de 
Dunwithie,  with  his  valet  and  steed,  12s;  Sir  Robert  the 
chaplain,  7s  ;  Henry  de  Carlile,  a  cross-bowman,  6d  ;  and 
others  in  proportion.      After  the  battle  of  Falkirk,  gained 


torthorwald 

by  the  English  over  Wallace,  these  Scotsmen  received  com- 
jjensation  for  tlieir  slain  horses  at  the  following  rates  : — Sir 
Roger  de  Kirkpatrick  received  for  a  brown  bay  £10  ;  Sir 
James  de  Carlile,  £10;  AVilliam  Comyn,  of  the  King's  son's 
household,  100s;  Sir  Humphrey  de  Jardine  had  only  12 
marks  for  a  black  horse  with  two  white  feet  and  a  star  on 
its  forehead  ;  Sir  Thomas  de  Carlile  lost  one  worth  100s  ; 
and  William  de  Gardin's  valet's  horse  w-as  valued  at  6 
marks. 


22  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

The  murderer  of  Comyn  had  been  excommunicated  by 
the  Pope,  and  his  end  seems  never  to  have  been  ascertained. 
After  serving  Edward  I.,  who  appointed  him  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  he  turned  to  Bruce,  yet  was  serving  Edward  in 
1315,  and  apparently  again  joined  Bruce,  for  after  King 
Robert's  fortunes  seemed  declining,  and  he  was  known  to 
be  afflicted  Avitli  leprosy,  so  that  there  was  every  prospect 
of  a  minor  sovereign  and  all  the  evils  it  would  entail.  Sir 
Roger  Kirkpatrick  and  his  wife  asked  for  a  safe  conduct 
and  protection  within  the  realm  of  England.  The  same 
was  asked  for  a  year  for  Humfrey  de  Kirkpatrick  and 
Idonia  his  wife,  December  12,  1322.  Seven  weeks  later 
King  Edward  II.  ordered  instant  inquiry  to  be  made  by 
good  men  of  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  as  to  the 
abduction  of  Sir  Roger  Kirkpatrick,  Knight  of  Scotland, 
and  his  wife,  who  fled  to  England  to  save  his  life,  and 
while  there,  under  the  King's  sj^ecial  protection,  have  been 
seized  by  evil-doers,  and  are  still  detained  in  some  place 
unknown.  This  order  is  dated  from  York,  and  as  seven 
months  later  another  to  the  same  effect  is  dated  from 
Berwick-upon-Tweed,  and  tliere  is  no  further  mention  of 
them,  they  were  probably  secretly  murdered  by  some  of 
Comyn's  fi-iends.  In  1341  Humphrey  Kirkpatrick,  son 
and  heir  of  Roger  Kirkpatrick,  was  one  of  seventeen 
hostages  for  the  ransom  of  David  II.,  who  were  sent  to 
England  ;  another  being  John  Fernyear  or  Stewart,  after- 
wards Robert  III. 

A  Humfrey  de  Kirkpatrick  was  a  witness  to  a  grant  of 
tlie  lands  and  advowson  of  Ecclefechan  to  Sir  Robert  Bruce 
and  his  heirs  in  1249.  The  other  witnesses  are  Sir  Walter 
Comyn,  Earl  of  Menteith,  Sir  A.  Cummin,  Earl  of  Buchan, 
Sir  John  Cummin,  Sir  William  de  Cunnynghame,  Hugh  de 
Mauleverer,  Gilliei-t  de  Johnestoun.  Tvo  de  Jonesby,  Richard 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  28 

de  Crossbie,  WilliMui  de  Boyville,  William  de  Annaud,  clerk, 
and  others.  This  is  the  first  time  in  Avhich  a  descendant  of 
Le  Seigneur  de  Jeanville  or  Joinville — the  name  was  spelt 
both  ways  in  France  —  is  mentioned  in  Dumfriesshire 
records  as  Johnestoun*  or  Johnstone,  for  it  appears  in  the 
original  French  in  a  deed  connected  with  the  Carlile  family, 
signed  by  Gulielmo  de  Joyneville,  as  late  as  between  1191 
and  1215.  The  barony  of  Joinville,  in  the  province  of 
Champagne  in  France,  passed  in  the  loth  century  into 
that  of  Lorraine.  It  was  here,  at  the  Castle  of  Joinville, 
that  the  French  historian  of  the  same  name,  who  is  described 
as  a  cadet  of  an  ancient  family  in  Champagne,  was  born  in 
1274,  and  was  eai'ly  introduced  to  the  Comte  de  Thibaudeau 
at  the  French  Court.  He  died  in  1319,  but  was  at  the 
height  of  his  popularity  with  King  Philip  le  Bel  when 
Geoffrey  or  Gill^ertt  de  Jeanville,  known  in  Dumfriesshire 
as  Johnestoune,  an  adherent  of  Baliol,  came  in  1299  with 
the  English  Commissioners  to  sign  a  treaty  between  Edward 
I.  and  the  Scottish  King  John  with  King  Philip  of  France, 
which  had  been  arranged  through  the  medium  of  the 
Pope.  The  treaty  was  signed  for  the  Pope  by  Bishop 
Kenault  of  Vicenza,  and  for  England  by  John  of  Win- 
chester,  Symon    of    Salisbury,   Bishop    Aymer   de    Savoie, 

*  Archibald  Johnstone  of  Warriestoun,  executed  in  1G62,  signed  his 
name  Johnstown. 

+  The  deeds  of  this  period  and  long  afterwards  were  usually  signed  by 
a  clerk  for  all  the  witnesses,  who  sometimes  went  through  the  form  of 
putting  their  hands  on  the  pen  ;  but,  as  they  could  not  read  the  deeds 
when  they  were  written,  mistakes  are  often  found  in  places  and  Christian 
names.  In  a  Scottish  Crown  Charter  of  1517  the  same  man  is  first  called 
Herbert  and  then  Gilbert.  In  a  decreet  of  the  Privy  Council  in  1591 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  is  called  Andrew.  In  other  registered 
Scottish  deeds  John  is  called  James  ;  Peter  is  called  Patrick  ;  Ryhill, 
Robgill ;  Marion,  Margaret ;  and  the  second  Marquis  of  Annandale 
and  Earl  of  Hartfell  is  called  Earl  of  Hertford,  even  in  the  Register  of 
Burials  in  Westminster  Abbey  in  1730  Gilbert  and  (Geoffrey  are  more 
than  once  transposed,  and  this  Jeanville  is  called  both  in  copies  of  the 
deed. 


24  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Henry  de  Nicolas  Guis  de  Warwick,  Count  Aymer  de 
Valence,  Otto  de  Granson,  John  of  Bar  Chevalier,  and 
Geoffrey  or  Guilbert  de  Jeanville,  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  last  was  of  the  same  family  as  Philip's 
historiographer,  and  that  it  was  from  the  Joinville  or 
Jeanville  barony  that  the  Seigneur  de  Jeanville,  mentioned 
by  the  old  chronicler  Guilliaume  de  Tailleur  as  being  with 
"William's  army  among  princes  and  nobles  from  Germany, 
and  distant  parts  of  France,  came  to  join  the  Conqueror's 
forces  before  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  half  Saxonized 
into  Janvil,  the  name  appears  again  on  the  roll  of  Battle 
Abbey.  Like  other  Norman  French  families  planted  in 
Scotland,  the  Johnstones  obtained  estates  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  but  the  manor,  if  not  the  advowson,  of  the 
Church  of  Johnstone  was  bestowed  on  the  monastery  of 
Soltray  by  Sir  John  de  Johnstone  about  1285,  when  he 
confirmed  his  father's  (Hugo  de  Johnestoune)  gift  of  the 
lands  in  Haddington  to  the  same  establishment.  Soltray 
was  particularly  intended  for  the  reception  of  pilgrims  and 
strangers.  It  is  difficult  to  find  what  other  land  the  John- 
stones  owned  so  early  as  1249,  as  most  of  the  estates  they 
aftei'wards  held  then  belonged  to  the  Bruces,  Baliols, 
Corries,  and  Carliles.  They  may  have  held  Graitney 
Tower,  as  Constables  of  the  Bordei's,  and  Cavertholme, 
which  was  an  early  possession,  for  in  1296  both  Sir  John 
de  Johnstone  and  Gill)ei't  Johnestoune  are  desci'ibed  as  of 
Dumfriesshire.  In  1333-4  a  charter  of  lands  in  Annandale 
from  Edward  Baliol,  calling  himself  King,  to  Henry  Percy 
is  signed  by  Gilbert  de  Johnstone  of  Brakenthwayte,  an 
estate  which  was  later  held  by  the  Carliles,  and  may  have 
been  exchanged  with  them,  by  marriage  or  otherwise,  for 
Loughwode  or  Lochwood,  which  tlie  Carliles  held  at  that 
period  (though  it  became  later  the  stronghold  of  the  lairds 


AND    THE    BORDER    WARS.  25 

of  Johnstone),  because  Brackenthwayte  was  never  reclaimed 
by  the  Johnstones  during  the  settlement  of  tlie  Borders  in 
1603-20,  Avhen  no  title  of  possession  seems  to  have  been  too 
obscure  to  be  used.  The  other  signatures  to  this  charter  of 
1333-4  were — Adam  de  Corry,  Keeper  of  the  Castle  of 
Lochmaben  ;  Walter  de  Corry  ;  Thomas  de  Kirkpatrick,  in 
Penresax  ;  William  Kirkpatrick  and  the  clerk,  Thomas  of 
Carruthers.  Douglas  states  that  Gilbert  de  Johnstone  had 
a  charter  from  Robert  II.  of  lands  in  Lanarkshire,  where 
Matthew  de  Johnstone  of  Westraw  is  found  in  1455. 

In  the  reign  of  David  Bruce  (1329-70),  Stiven  John- 
stoune,  whom  his  descendants  affirm  to  have  been  described 
in  their  trenealosies  as  brother  to  Johnstone,  laird  of 
Annandale,  and  a  man  of  great  learning,  was  in  possession 
of  the  estate  of  Johnstone  in  Aberdeenshire,  but  his  branch 
of  the  family  adopted  a  different  ci-est,  though  the  same 
arms  as  the  Johnstones  in  Dumfriessliire.  It  is  curious 
that  the  seal  attached  to  Sir  John  de  Johnstoune's  signa- 
ture (1296)  to  the  Ragman's  Roll  has  the  coat  of  arms  now 
borne  by  all  his  descendants,  with  the  augmentations  of 
mullets  and  garbs,  only  borne  by  the  Johnstones  of  Gala- 
bank  and  Fulford  Hall,  while  Gilbert  de  Johnstoune,  who 
is  supposed  to  have  been  his  son,  had  on  his  seal  a  man  on 
horseback,  similar  to  that  which  was  adopted  as  a  distinc- 
tive crest  by  the  illegitimate  branch  of  the  descendants  of 
William  Johnstone  of  Graitney  and  Baron  of  Newbie. 
Like  the  Maxwells,  they  adhered  to  England,  instead  of 
following  the  fortunes  of  Robert  Bruce.  This  may  have 
been  from  loyalty  or  relationship  to  the  Baliol  family. 
King  John  Baliol's  son,  Edward,  entered  Dumfriesshire  in 
1332  with  the  aid,  we  are  told,  of  the  Anglo-Norman  lords, 
whose  Scottish  lands  had  not  l)een  restored  to  them,  in 
spite  of  a  clause  in  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  signed  in  1327 


26  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

between  Robert  Bruce  and  the  Queen  Regent  of  England. 
Probably  most  of  the  Border  lairds  assisted  him,  and  a 
Charter,  granting  Ryvel  and  Comlongan  to  one  of  Baliol's 
supporters,  Murray  (ancestor  of  tlie  Duke  of  Athol),  is 
signed  by  John  de  Johnestoune  and  his  son,  Gilbert,  as 
well  as  by  Humfrie  de  Bosco  and  Roger  de  Kirkpatrick 
before  1331.  Again,  in  1347,  Gilbert  de  Johnstone  was 
presiding  over  the  inquisition  which  returned  young  Carlile 
as  heir  to  his  uncle,  under  English  auspices.  In  1341 
David  Bruce  invaded  England  during  the  absence  of 
Edward  III.  in  France,  possibly  with  a  view  of  obtaining 
the  restoration  of  all  Dumfriesshire.  He  was  defeated, 
and  taken  prisoner  into  England  ;  but  Edward  was  just 
then  more  set  upon  the  conquest  of  France  than  of  Eng- 
land, and  in  1356,  owing  to  the  capture  of  the  fortified 
towns  in  Dumfriesshire,  and  the  ofter  of  a  ransom  for  the 
young  king  by  Robert  Stuart,  who  ruled  the  country  as 
Regent  during  his  imprisonment,  Edward  Baliol  retired,  so 
that  the  Johnstones,  Maxwells,  and  others  were  released 
from  any  further  allegiance  to  his  house.  Sir  John  of 
Johnstone,  the  son  of  Gilbert,  was  made  a  Warden  of  the 
West  Borders  at  this  time,  and  Adam  de  Johnstone 
received  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Monyge,  Moling,  and 
Rahills.  The  old  Prior  of  Lochleven,  Andrew  Wyntoun, 
who  died  about  1424,  records,  in  the  "Original  Chronicle," 
the  fame  of  Bruce,  and  of  the  Scottish  leaders,  his  contem- 
poraries. He  gives  a  few  lines  to  Sir  John  de  Johnstone, 
who,  in  1370,  defeated  the  English  army  which  invaded 
Scotland  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Edward  III.: — 

When  att  the  wattyr  of  Sohvay, 

Schyr  Jhon  of  Jhonystowii  on  a  day, 

Of  Inglismen  wencnst  a  grete  dele. 
1  He  bore  him  at  that  time  sa  wele 

'  That  he  and  the  Lord  of  (lordoune, 

Had  a  sowerane  gude  renown. 

Of  ony  that  was  of  thar  degree 

For  full  they  war  of  grete  bownte 


AND    THE    BORDER    WARS.  27 

Sir  John  Johnstone's  son  is  mentioned  in  a  letter  from 
Robert  II.  (1385),  in  which  the  King  thanks  Charles  VI. 
of  France  for  the  succour  he  has  given  him  against  the 
Eno-lish,  and  for  the  sum  of  40,000  livres  which  Charles 
liad  sent  to  be  divided  among  "  the  Scottish  nobles,  his 
faithful  allies."  A  list  of  the  recipients  is  given,  and 
anions:  them  John  of  Johnestoune  had  received  300  livres. 
He  fought  under  Douglas  at  Otterburn  or  Chevy  Chase, 
and  was  one  of  the  constables  (scutiferi)  for  keeping  order 
on  the  Borders.  In  1384  a  safe  conduct  was  obtained  for 
him  into  England,  wherein  he  is  described  as  a  military 
man.  A  large  proportion  of  the  Scotsmen,  who  asked  for 
.safe-conducts  into  England,  either  for  trade  or  to  £fo  to  the 
Continent,  were  Borderers.  In  1413,  one  is  obtained  for 
Adam  Johnstone,  lord  of  Johnstone ;  Herbert,  son  and  heir 
of  Herbert  Maxwell,  lord  of  Caerlaverock  ;  William  Carlile, 
son  and  heir  of  John  Carlile,  soldier ;  Gilbert  Grierson, 
Gilbert  M'Dowall,  son  and  heir  of  Fergus  M'Dowall  ;  and 
Archibald  M'Dowall,  soldier.  In  1485,  for  Mr  John 
Ii-eland,  John  Murray,  David  Scot,  Gilbert  de  Johnstone, 
Lord  Kennedy,  David  Lyle,  Alex.  Hume,  Ac.  In  JMarch, 
14G4,  a  petition  is  presented  from  Adam  of  Johnstone, 
Robert  and  John  Johnstone,  Gilbert  of  Johnstone,  and 
Matthew  of  Johnstone  for  several  safe  conducts  for  a  whole 
year  into  England,  with  permission  for  two  of  them  to 
trade  at  English  ports  with  three  boats  of  15  tons  burden, 
wliich  boats  have  competent  masters  and  mariners;  also  for 
the  said  petitioners  to  go  freely  between  the  two  countries 
with  ten  Scotsmen  in  their  company.  Among  the  acts  and 
decreets  of  this  date  in  connection  with  a  Borderer  is  one 
against  Elizabeth,  the  widow  of  a  certain  James  Burcane 
in  Bruges,  for  detaining  a  pair  of  silver  flagons,  a  stoup  of 
silver  gilt,  a  cup  with  a  silver  gilt  cover,  and  a  silver  goblet 
left  in  her  husband's  care  by  John  Lord  Carlile. 


28  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

While  the  Englisli  Kings  appointed  one  wealthy  Englisli 
nobleman  after  another  to  the  lordship  of  Annandale, 
Robert  Bruce  gave  it  to  Sir  James  Douglas,  who  was 
attached  to  him  not  only  by  the  ties  of  friendship,  but  by 
private  wrongs  sustained  from  Edward  I.  His  father  had 
aided  Wallace,  and  then  submitting  to  the  Enfdish  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London,  where  he  died,  and 
his  estates  were  forfeited,  for  besides  his  so-called  rebellion 
he  was  the  only  Scotsman  of  rank  who  declined  to  sign  the 
Ragman's  Roll.  James  Douglas,  then  in  France,  came  to 
Westminster,  and  offered  to  remain  faithful  to  England  if 
Edward  would  restore  to  him  his  father's  lands.  The  Kin<>- 
declined  to  give  him  either  the  lands  or  any  employment, 
upon  which  he  became  a  patriot,  and  joined  Bruce.  It 
is  a  well-known  story  that  the  name  of  his  friend  was 
changed  from  Lokarde  to  Lockhart,  because  he  brought 
back  Bruce's  heart,  which  James  Douglas  had  endeavoured 
to  convey  to  the  Holy  Land ;  and  the  name  of  Lokard  is 
found  in  Dumfriesshire  as  early  as  1200.  When  the  Eng- 
lish were  finally  driven  from  Annandale  the  Douglases 
were  for  many  years  more  powerful  in  this  district  than 
the  Scottish  King. 

The  Cars,  Kers,  and  Kerrs,  all  one  family,  bear  the  same 
arms  as  the  French  branch  of  their  house.  They  first 
settled  in  Teviotdale,  at  Ancrum,  Fernihurst,  and  Cessford 
about  1330,  but  like  the  Hepburns  of  Bothwell,  who  are 
found  in  Berwickshire  at  the  same  period,  they  belong  to 
the  east  frontier  more  than  to  Dumfriesshire.  The  Kerrs 
are  now  represented  by  the  Duke  of  Roxburgh  and  the 
Marquis  of  Lothian.  The  eldest  son  of  their  house,  Andrew 
Ker,  was  one  of  the  hostages  for  the  release  of  James  I. 
Li  1459  Andrew  Ker  of  Cessford,  John  Johnstone  of  that 
ilk,  Thos.  Cranstoun  of  that  ilk,  George  Ormiston,  Charles 


AND   THK   BORDER   WARS.  29 

Murray  of  Cockpool,  William  Carlile  of  Torthorald,  and 
•James  Rutherford  of  that  ilk  are  bracketted  as  "scutiferi," 
and  as  all  "  naval  admirals,"  in  the  list  of  Border  chiefs 
charged  with  the  care  of  the  marches.  The  same  yeai- 
David  Hume,  "Walter  Scott,  Simon  Glendinning,  and 
Robert  Crichton,  Viscount  of  Nithsdale,  were  granted  a 
safe  conduct  into  England. 

The  Borderers  are  often  compared  to  the  Highlanders, 
who  were  of  much  the  same  race,  in  their  system  of  clan- 
ship, but  with  the  difference  that  they  were  all  horsemen. 
The  chief  landowners  were  given  baronial  rights,  which 
included  the  services  of  the  freemen  on  their  lands,  whom 
they  protected  from  each  other  and  from  the  enemy.  A 
code  of  unwritten  laws  existed,  of  which  the  origin  is  most 
obscure,  but  the  object  of  the  county  courts,  to  judge  from 
the  cases  tried,  was  to  legislate  between  the  families  of  the 
landowners,  and  to  punish  ill-doers  among  them.  The 
peasantry  could  be  dealt  with  in  a  more  summary  way. 
Their  mode  of  life,  as  described  by  Froissart  in  1323,  was 
of  the  roughest  description,  but  when  we  read  that  Bruce's 
army,  which  was  all  cavalry,  contained  a  knight  or  esquire 
to  every  five  troopers,  its  marvellous  success  is  no  matter 
of  surprise.  The  "bold  and  hardy  troopers  armed  after  the 
manner  of  their  country,  and  mounted  on  little  hackneys  that 
are  never  tied  up  or  dressed,  but  turned  immediately  after  the 
day's  march  to  pasture  on  the  heath  or  in  the  fields,"  brought 
no  carts  and  carried  no  bread.  "  They  can  live  on  fiesh, 
half  sodden,  without  bread,  and  drink  the  river  water  with- 
out wine.  They  dress  the  flesh  of  the  cattle  in  their  skins 
after  they  have  flayed  them.  Under  the  flaps  of  his  saddle 
each  man  carries  a  broad  piece  of  metal  behind  him,  with 
a  little  bag  of  oatmeal.  "When  they  have  eaten  too  much 
of  the  sodden  flesh,  they  set  this  plate  over  the  fire,  knead 


80  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

the  meal  with  water,  and  make  a  thin  cake  of  it,  ^liich 
they  bake  on  the  heated  phite  to  warm  their  bodies."  But 
in  those  times  even  the  table  of  a  Prince  of  Wales  was  not 
supplied  witli  modern  refinement.  At  Pertli,  Feb.  10, 
1303-4,  when  the  Prince,  afterwards  Edward  II.,  gave  a 
dinner  to  the  King's  envoys — Sir  Aymer  de  Valence, 
Henry  de  Percy,  Robert  Fitz-Payn,  and  John  de  Beustede 
and  their  retinue  "  about  the  peace  with  Sir  John  Comyn  '" 
— the  King's  stores  provided  1  shield  of  brawn,  100  her- 
rings, 1  bushel  of  beans,  4  roes,  2  bushels  of  pease,  2i 
flagons  of  acetum,  1  flagon  of  verjuice,  some  bread,  and 
2  casks  6  sesterces  of  wine.  From  the  Prince's  store  11 
bacons  and  4  pieces  of  sturgeon.  On  Friday,  Fel).  14,  the 
Earl  of  Warwick  and  Sir  Hugh  le  Despenser  dined  with 
the  same  Prince,  on  which  occasion  the  King's  stores  sup- 
plied 1600  herrings,  44  stockfish,  1  bushel  of  flour,  1  bushel 
of  pease,  ^  gallon  of  honey,  4  lbs.  of  anydoyne,  h  bushel  of 
salt,  ^  gallon  of  vinegar,  two  shillings  worth  of  bread,  and 
62  sesterces  of  wine,  and  from  the  Prince's  store  were  added 
9  pieces  of  sturgeon. 

An  inquisition  at  Dumfries,  April  23,  1347,  held  by 
John  de  la  More,  under  sherifl"  (he  was  related  to  the  first 
wife  of  Robert  II.)  to  infeft  Thos.  de  Molton  in  the  whole 
manor  of  Kirkpatrick-Juxta,  with  the  advowson  of  the 
Church  and  services  of  free  men,  is  another  instance  of  the 
early  practice  of  giving  benefices  to  laymen.  Several 
Milners  and  Macaynes  were  the  jurymen.  Owing  to  the 
sequestrations  and  exactions  by  both  the  Scottish  and 
English  rulers,  it  was  apparently  diflicult  to  find  anything 
left  but  Church  property  with  which  to  reward  loyalty  in 
Annandale.  In  1297,  Cliflbrd  had  orders  from  Edward  I. 
to  occupy  Bruce's  estates  in  Annandale  with  his  contingent, 
and  in    1304   the    escheats  in   other    parts    of    Annandale 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  31 

amounted  to  £194  2s  6d,  being  <£33  6s  3d  for  the  relief  of 
"Walter  de  Corry,  GOs  Sd  from  the  farm  of  the  town  of 
Annan,  19s  lid  from  toft  mailes  of  the  same  town,  44s 
from  the  Provostry  of  Newbie,  44s  9|d  from  the  Provostry 
of  Kirkpatrick  and  Gretna ;  33s  4d  from  the  mills  of 
Moffatdale,  £6  from  the  mill  of  Annan,  and  6s  from  Lough- 
wood. 

Tlie  extraordinary  efforts  which  Edward  I.  made  to 
reduce  Scotland  to  submission  brought  the  greatest  mis- 
fortunes on  his  son,  and  even  affected  the  reign  of  his 
grandson.  He  had  debased  the  coin  to  carry  on  his  wars, 
and  it  was  perfectly  impossible  to  perform  his  two  dying 
commands  to  pursue  the  war  with  Scotland  and  a  crusade. 
The  £30,000  he  had  left  for  the  last  purpose  went  to  Hugh 
le  Despenser  and  Piers  de  Gaveston  to  pay  the  dowry  of 
their  wives,  £15,000  being  the  dowry  of  an  English  princess, 
and  Despenser  had  man-ied  the  sister  and  Gaveston  the 
niece  of  Edward  II.  The  country  was  impoverished  and 
sick  of  the  war,  as  is  shown  by  the  secret  convention  of  the 
Earl  of  Carlisle  with  Robert  Bruce,  which  cost  the  first  his 
life  and  limbs.  The  terms  offered  hj  Robert  Bruce — who 
even  styles  himself  Sir,  not  King — were  very  liberal,  and 
only  to  be  explained  by  his  already  failing  health.  Among 
other  things,  if  his  title  were  acknowledged,  he  undertook 
to  build  an  Abbey  wdiere  daily  mass  should  be  celebrated 
for  the  souls  of  those  who  had  perished  in  the  long  war. 
But  Edward's  last  words  still  weighed  on  his  son  ;  wdiile 
England  was  put  to  enormous  expense  in  providing  for  the 
numerous  Scottish  prisoners,  and  the  chiefs  who  still 
adhered  to  him.  Complaints  are  recorded  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  as  to  the  inability  of  the  castellans  and 
abbots  to  maintain  them  ;  even  the  once  wealthy  Prior  of 
Gysburn  points  out  that  his  monastery  is  ruined,  and  that 


32  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

lie  now  gets  nothing  from  Annandale  and  Carlisle,  which 
used  to  be  the  great  source  of  his  revenue ;  and  this  went 
ou  throughout  the  century.  In  1376  the  English  officials 
cannot  obtain  the  proper  dues  from  Calfhirst  (Cavertholme), 
Annan,  Gretenhowe  (Gretna),  Kirkpatrick  or  Redkirk,  for 
the  tenants  are  ruined  by  the  incursions  of  the  Earl  of 
March.  In  1315  there  had  been  a  scarcity,  and  witli  the 
false  political  economy  of  the  day,  the  English  Parliament 
endeavoured  to  keep  down  prices,  and  ordered  that  a  fatted 
ox  should  not  cost  more  than  15s;  a  fat  goose,  2ld ;  a  fat 
sheep.  Is  2d,  and  so  on,  till  it  became  difficult  to  supply 
even  the  King's  table,  and  the  order  was  cancelled. 

Sir  Eustace  de  Maxwell  received  £22  yearly  from 
Edward  II.  in  1312  for  the  defence  of  Caerlaverock,  but 
he  afterwards  submitted  to  Robert  Bruce,  who  razed  its 
fortifications,  and  compensated  him.  It  seems  to  have 
been  rebuilt  very  soon,  for  the  Earl  of  Northampton, 
then  Sheriff  of  Annandale,  tells  an  anonymous  correspon- 
dent, in  1347,  that  Herbert  de  Maxwell  had  come  to 
him  in  England  to  surrender  the  Castle  of  Caerlaverock 
under  safe  conduct  from  the  King.  He  desires  that  no 
one  on  the  English  march  sliould  annoy  him  or  his  men, 
or  take  their  victuals  from  them,  and  that  he  shall  in  all 
way  be  treated  as  an  Englishman.  In  1356,  Caerlaverock 
was  stormed  by  Roger  Kirkpatrick,  assisted  by  John,  Earl 
of  Carrick,  afterwards  Robert  III.,  and  Kirkpatrick  was 
murdered  the  next  year,  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  by  Sir 
James  Lindsay,  like  himself  a  son  of  one  of  Comyn's  mui-- 
derers,  and  who  was  executed  for  it. 

To  an  active  Borderer,  spending  his  life  on  horseback, 
close  imprisonment  in  England  was  often  fatal,  but  it  was 
only  those  whose  friends  could  provide  a  ransom  who  were 
thought  worth  capturing.      An  order  in  the  handwriting  of 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  33 

Edward  III.  comniands  the  Warden  of  the  Tower  of 
London  to  receive  from  John  de  Clifford  William  de  Glade- 
stoun,  chevalier,  a  Scottish  pi-isoner,  and  keep  him  there. 
Westminster,  1357.  The  following  year  Thomas  Gillisbe, 
Alexander  Johnstone,  James  White,  and  John  Roxburgh, 
imprisoned  in  Eccleshall  Castle,  Staffordshire,  where  they 
were  allowed  to  go  at  large  within  the  Castle,  broke  their 
parole,  and  escaped  with  their  goods  to  the  march  between 
Scotland  and  England,  where  "  they  confederated  with  the 
lieges."  An  order  was  issued  to  re-imprison  them,  and 
deprive  them  of  their  goods.  In  1422,  John  Bell,  James, 
William,  John,  and  Walter  Johnstone,  Donald  Brown,  and 
others  were  released  from  the  Tower,  and  allowed  to  return 
to  Scotland  to  bring  tlieiv  ransoms.  After  depositing  the 
money,  they  would  be  free  to  go  back  to  Scotland. 


CHAPTER    III. 


The  Stewarts— The  Douglases — Their  Rebellions— Battle  of 
Langholm — The  Dukes  of  Albany — The  Scottish  Archers 
— The  Crichtons. 

THE  misfortunes  of  the  house  of  Stewart  have  become 
a  proverb,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  some 
measure  their  early  Princes  brought  them  on  the  dynasty 
by  their  own  misdeeds.  In  the  dispensation  for  his 
marriage  to  Elizabeth  More  within  the  prohibited  degrees, 
obtained  by  Robert  II.  in  1347  from  the  Pope,  both  sons 
and  daughters  are  mentioned  who  were  probably  legitimised 
by  the  matrimonial  rite,  but  owing  to  his  irregular  life, 
both  before  and  after  the  ceremony,  it  was  commonly 
rumoured  that  though  Robert  III.  was  his  eldest  son,  he 
was  not  one  of  the  sons  whose  birth  had  been  legalized  by 
subsequent  wedlock.  The  Duke  of  Albany  was  considered 
to  have  a  better  right  to  the  throne,  and  his  appointment 
as  Regent  in  the  life- time  of  his  father,  instead  of  his  elder 
brother,  seemed  to  confirm  this  report.  The  Wolf  of 
Badenoch,  another  son  of  Robert  II.,  was  a  ferocious 
savage ;  a  destroyer  of  churches  and  monasteries  for  the 
sake  of  the  silver  they  contained,  and  whose  barbarities  to 
women  and  children  shocked  even  the  rude  clansman  of 
his  day.  In  spite  of  literary  talent  his  nephew,  James  I., 
seemed  to  inherit  a  little  of  his  cold  cruelty,  rather  than 
the  noble  disposition  of  Robert  Bruce.  Great  as  had  been 
his  wrongs,  and  that  of  his  elder  brother,  the  treacherous 


THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES.  35 

seizure  and  execution  of  liis  cousin  Mui'doch — who  had  at 
one  time  shared  his  captivity  in  the  Tower,  obtained  his 
release,  and  pLaced  liis  crown  on  his  head — and  of  Mur- 
doch's sons  and  aged  father-in-law  after  a  inock  trial, 
simply  because  the  real  sinner  was  dead,  was  regarded  as 
an  act  of  jealousy  rather  than  of  justice.  Tlie  horrible 
tortures  to  which  he  subjected  some  of  their  adherents,  the 
insults  heaped  on  his  victims,  and  the  confiscation  of  their 
possessions,  chiefly  for  his  own  benefit,  raised  against  him 
the  faction  of  his  and  their  relatives,  who  at  last  assassi- 
nated him,  and  liis  supplication  for  mercy  when  in  the 
liands  of  his  murderers  contrasted  with  the  stoical  fortitude 
of  the  Albany  family  in  their  sufferings.  By  this  revenge 
on  descendants  of  the  first  wife  of  Robert  II.,  James 
excited  the  indignation  of  the  descendants  of  the  second 
wife,  Euphemia,*  who  also  imagined  that  their  right  to 
reign,  owing  to  their  unquestioned  legitimacy,  was  stronger 
than  his  own.  These  were  the  Earl  of  Atholl,  Robert's 
son ;  his  grandson,  Stewart ;  and  Sir  Robert  Grahame,  a 
great  grandson  of  Robert  Bruce.  But  though  ambition 
has  been  attributed  to  them,  they  asserted,  amidst  the 
excruciating  torments  to  which  they  were  subjected  for 
their  part  in  the  King's  death,  by  the  order  of  his  widow, 
the  English  Princess  Joan,  that  they  were  simply  avenging 
the  blood  of  their  relations  by  destroying  the  murderer 
according  to  the  recognised  Scottish  law.  While  the  Royal 
house  was  divided  against  itself,  and  the  English  Kings 
showed,  by  their  detention  of  James  I.  in  his  boyhood 
(1399)   in    a    time    of    peace    and    the    ransom    afterwai'ds 

*  Holinshead,  writing  in  1574,  calls  Euphemia  Robert's  first  wife,  and 
says  he  married  Elizabeth  Mure  after  her  death,  but  he  may  have  eon- 
fused  two  rather  similar  names.  Elizabeth's  children  legitimised  after 
wedlock  would  have  been  junior  in  Scottish  law  to  Euphemia 's,  though 
older  in  age. 


86  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

required  for  his  release  (1424),  their  continued  ill-will  to 
the  Scots,  the  nobles  on  the  borders  and  in  the  Highlands 
ruled  independently  of  the  Sovei'eigns,  who  when  they 
visited  Aiinandale  came  with  an  army  as  if  entering  a 
foreign  country. 

A  king  of  six  years  old,  the  heir  of  James  I.,  was  not 
likely  to  attract  the  allegiance  of  the  powerful  Douglas, 
whose  predecessor  had  e\en  claimed  the  throne  at  the 
accession  of  the  first  Stewart.  No  mention  can  be  found 
of  the  Douglases  earlier  than  the  last  half  of  the  12th 
century,  when  William  of  Douglas  witnessed  a  cliarter  by 
Joscelin,  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  to  the  monks  of  Kelso,  between 
1 170  and  1 190.  While  the  Maxwells  devoted  themselves  to 
their  relative  Baliol,  the  Douglases  adhered  to  Bruce.  As 
lords  of  Galloway,  Annandale,  and  Dumfries,  they  assumed 
an  attitude  very  galling  to  the  youthful  sovereigns  who 
inherited  the  Scottish  throne.  An  inactive  life  soon 
wearied  them,  and  when  a  truce  was  concluded  with  Eng- 
land, William,  called  the  Black  Douglas,  who  had  married 
Egidia,  or  Gyles,  the  daughter  of  Robert  II.,  left  Scotland 
for  a  crusade  against  the  pagans  and  fire-worshippers  of 
Vilna  in  Russia,  and  enrolled  himself  under  the  flag  of  the 
Teutonic  kniuhts  who  had  established  themselves  in  Livonia 
and  the  north  of  modern  Prussia.  The  Earl  of  Derby, 
afterwards  Henry  IV.  of  England,  joined  in  the  same 
expedition,  and  Douglas  was  made  Admiral  of  the  Teutonic 
fleet  at  Dantzic,  Duke  of  Prussia,  and  Prince  of  Dantzic. 
He  did  not  long  enjoy  these  honours,  for  in  1400  he  was 
murdered  on  the  bridge  of  Dantzic  by  some  assassins  hired 
by  Lord  Clifford,  one  of  the  Earl  of  Derby's  followers,  with 
whom  he  had  had  a  dispute.  William,  the  nephew  of  this 
Douglas,  when  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  kept  a  larger 
guard   of   armed    followers    than    the    young    King,   and 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  37 

excited  the  fears  and  jealousy  of  both  the  Regent  and 
Sir  William  Crichton,  the  Chancellor  of  Scotland,  who 
invited  him  and  his  young  brother  David  to  a  banquet  in 
the  Royal  Palace.  In  tlie  middle  of  the  feast  they  were 
seized  and  put  to  death  by  some  of  the  Regent's  servants, 
in  the  very  siglit  of  the  Royal  boy,  "  who  grat  very  sore," 
writes  the  historian,  and  pleaded  for  their  lives  in  vain. 
Yet  a  few  years  later  their  cousin  and  the  head  of  their 
house  was  stabbed  by  this  young  King  James  II.  in  a  lit 
of  passion — an  act  which  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the 
great  Douglas  rebellion,  that  stirred  up  not  only  Dumfries- 
shire, but  all  Scotland,  before  it  was  finally  suppressed. 

The  rebellion  of  the  Earl  of  March  in  1400,  and  of  the 
Douglases  fifty  years  later,  made  or  ruined  the  fortunes  of 
many  families  in  Dumfriesshire.  The  Earl  of  March  had 
been  Warden  of  the  Borders,  and  in  that  capacity  had 
defeated  the  English  and  wrested  the  town  of  Roxburgh 
and  the  castle  of  Lochmaben  from  their  hands ;  but  he  was 
incensed  by  the  King's  conduct  to  his  daughter.  Lady 
Elizabeth  Dunbar,  who  after  her  betrothal  to  David,  Prince 
of  Scotland  (the  eldest  son  of  Robert  III.),  with  the  Prince's 
full  consent,  and  after  her  father  had  actually  paid  a  large 
part  of  her  promised  dowry,  was  rejected  for  Lady  Marjory, 
the  daughter  of  the  powerful  Earl  of  Douglas,  and  Lady 
Marjoiy  was  married  to  David  in  spite  of  the  pre\'ious 
contract.  The  Prince  showed  his  preference  for  Lady 
Elizabeth  by  neglect  of  his  bride,  and  a  wild,  vicious  career 
cut  short  by  his  murder  in  Falkland  Castle ;  and  the  Earl 
of  March  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Percys  of  Northum- 
berland, and  under  their  banner  became  a  bitter  enemy  to 
his  native  country.  He  eventually  obtained  a  pardon,  and 
the  restoration  of  his  estates,  when  the  King's  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Albany,  who  was  supposed  to  have  been  acces- 


38  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

sory  to  tlie  murder  of  Prince  David,  acted  as  Regent  during 
the  detention  in  England  of  his  nephew,  the  young  King- 
James  I.  But  in  1440  the  son  of  the  Earl  of  March  was 
deprived  by  an  Act  of  the  Scottish  Parliament  of  all  the 
lands  he  held  in  Dumfriesshire  as  a  tenant  of  the  Crown, 
although  his  brother  John  was  created  Earl  of  Murray, 
liaving  married  Lady  Marjory  Stewart,  eldest  daughter  of 
King  Robert  II.,  and  therefore  aunt  to  James  I.  Her  two 
grandsons,  Thomas  and  James,  went  as  hostages  to  England 
for  the  King's  ransom  in  1424. 

This  James  Dunbar,  who  became  Eai-1  of  Murray,  and 
married  Lady  Janet  Gordon,  obtained  the  reversion  of  some 
of  his  great  uncle's  confiscated  estates  on  the  borders  of 
Dumfriesshire,  and,  leaving  only  two  daughters,  his  lands 
in  Kirkpatrick  went  to  the  eldest.  Lady  Janet,  married  to 
James,  second  Lord  Crichton,  while  his  title  and  other 
estates  went  to  his  second  daughter  Mary,  who  married 
Archibald  Douglas.  She  lost  both  the  title  and  estates 
by  her  husband's  participation  in  his  brother's  rebellion, 
which  James,  Earl  of  Douglas,  inaugurated  to  revenge  the 
assassination  already  mentioned  of  another  brother  by  the 
King,  James  II.,  after  supper  in  Stirling  Castle.  The 
Earl  was  joined  by  his  relatives,  as  well  as  by  the  Earls  of 
Murray  and  Ormond,  and  Lord  Hamilton,  and  other 
chiefs ;  and,  first  proclaiming  the  cause  of  his  disloyalty 
in  the  market  place  at  Stirling,  supported  by  600  armed 
men,  he  proceeded  to  sack  the  town  and  burn  it.  The 
King  was  at  Perth,  but  i-eturned  nearer  to  the  scene  of 
action,  where  in  spite  of  a  defeat  they  had  sustained  at 
Brechin  Muir  in  1452  the  rebels  still  increased  in  power  ; 
and  when  the  Parliament  was  sitting  at  Edinburgh  to 
deprive  them  of  theii  titles  and  estates,  a  letter  was 
fastened  in  the  night  to  the  door  of  the  Parliament  House, 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  39 

sealed  by  Douglas,  Ormond,  and  Hamilton,  renouncing  all 
allegiance  to  the  Kins;.  The  chi'onicler  of  Auchinleck 
writes — "  This  Parliament  was  continued  for  fifteen  days, 
and  charged  all  manner  of  men  to  be  at  Edinburgh  both 
on  foot  and  horse,  each  man  for  himself,  both  in  burgh  and 
land,  under  pain  of  death,  and  loss  of  their  lands.  The 
King  himself  passed  on  southwards  with  the  host  to 
Peebles,  Selkirk,  Dumfries,  and  other  parts,  and  did  no 
good,  but  destroyed  the  country  right  felonly,  both  of  men, 
money,  and  victuals." 

The  Douglas  rebellion  was  crushed  at  last  by  the  battle 
of  Langholm  or  Arkenholm,  in  Eskdale,  on  May  1,  1455, 
in  which  the  insurgent  lords  were  defeated  by  Maxwell, 
Johnstone,  Scot,  and  Carlile.  The  Earl  of  Murray  was 
killed,  Ormond  taken  prisoner,  and  the  lordship  of  Annan- 
dale  and  March,  which  Douglas  had  possessed,  was  con- 
ferred on  the  King's  second  son,  Alexander  Duke  of  Albany 
(brother  to  James  III.),  a  child  of  three  years  old.  Before 
he  was  seven  his  father  was  killed  by  the  bursting  of  a  gun 
at  the  siege  of  Roxburgh,  and  twenty-four  years  afterwards 
he  recalled  Douglas  from  a  long  and  weai-y  exile  in  Eng- 
land to  assist  him  in  driving  James  III.  from  the  throne. 
Henry  VII.  of  England  lent  his  aid  to  the  unnatural 
brother,  and  an  English  army,  accompanied  by  Douglas 
and  Albany,  entered  Dumfriesshire,  but  they  were  defeated 
near  Lochmaben  by  the  combined  forces  of  Maxwell,  John- 
stone, Cuthbert  Murray  of  Cockpool,  Crichton  of  Sanquhar, 
Carruthers  of  Holmains,  and  Charteris  of  Amisfield. 
Douglas  was  captured  by  an  old  vassal,  Kirkpatrick  of  Ros. 
The  King,  in  consideration  of  his  age,  spared  his  life,  but 
consigned  him  to  a  monastery,  and  Albany's  estates  (the 
confiscated  domains  of  the  Earls  of  Murray  and  March 
on  the  borders)  were  appropriated  to  the  Crown  and  redis- 


40  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

tributed,  their  late  owner  ending  his  days  as  an  exile  in 
France. 

This  Duke  of  Albany  and  his  son,  who  bore  the  same 
title  in  the  next  century,  carried  to  Paris  several  Scottish 
charters  and  other  documents,  which  have  never  been 
restored.  They  are  still  preserved  in  the  Hotel  des  Arc- 
hives amongst  those  relating  to  Scotland,  but  also  connected 
with  France.  In  1423  a  letter  from  "  Archambault,  Earl 
of  Douglas,  Lord  of  Galloway,  of  Anaterdalle  [Annandale], 
and  Warden  of  the  frontier  of  Scotland,"  engages  that  he 
will  observe  faithfully  the  old  treaties  existing  between 
France  and  Scotland,  and  that  he  will  come  the  following 
December,  with  several  lords  and  men-at-arms  and  archers, 
to  serve  the  King  of  France.  In  1499  letters  of  naturalisa- 
tion were  given  to  Robert  Jonston,  a  Scotsman  in  the 
service  of  the  Queen  of  France,  and  in  September,  1513, 
Louis  XII.,  "  considering  the  great  service  rendered  to 
France  by  Scotland,  principally  against  England,  exempts 
for  the  future  the  Scots  residing  in  France  from  the  obliga- 
tion to  ask  particularly  letters  of  naturalisation,"  granting 
them  en  masse  the  right  to  make  wills,  to  succeed  as  heirs, 
and  to  hold  benelices  as  if  they  were  Frenchmen. 

The  Scottish  Archers,  like  the  ancient  Varangian  Guard 
at  Constantinople,  were  the  defence  on  which  the  French 
kings  most  relied,  and  they  seem  from  the  names  preserved 
to  have  been  chiefly  recruited  from  Dumfi-iesshire.  The 
Archer  Guard  even  stood  round  the  choir  when  the  French 
King  was  in  church.  In  their  credentials  they  were 
reminded  of  Abner  and  the  various  heroes  of  the  Old 
Testament.  In  the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  Count  d'lrvin 
was  their  commander,  and  the  force  comprised  200  men. 
After  the  Union  of  England  and  Scotland,  Scotsmen  were 
no   longer  desired    for    this    special    duty,    and  the   Swiss 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS. 


41 


Guard,  which  was  so  much  distinguished   in   the  time  of 
Louis  XVI.,  supplied  their  place. 

The  Crichtons,  wlio  had  promoted  the  disaffection  of  the 
Douglases  *  were  enriched  for  their  zeal  on  the  side  of  the 
King's  troops.  According  to  Holinshed,  the  first  Crichton 
came  over  from  Hungai-y  with  Agatlia,  the  widow  of  the 
Saxon   Prince    Edward,  when  her  daughter  married  Mal- 


?V 


SANQUHALi    CA.STLE. 

colm  III.  in  1067.  Thurstanus  de  Crichton  was  a  witness 
to  the  foundation  charter  of  the  Abbey  of  Holyrood  House 
in  1128,  and  Thomas  de  Crichton  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I. 
for  lands  in  Midlotliian  in   1296.      His  two  sons  founded 


*  Douglas  pointed  out  to  a  French  ally  how  little  advantage  the  Eng- 
lish could  obtain  by  a  march  into  Scotland.  "  The  houses  of  the 
gentlemen  are  small  towers,  with  thick  walls,  which  even  fire  will  not 
destroy.  As  for  the  conmion  people,  they  dwell  in  mere  huts,  and  if 
the  English  choose  to  burn  theui,  a  few  trees  from  the  wood  is  only 
required  to  rebuild  them." 


42  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

the  families  of  Sanquhar  (now  represented  in  the  female 
line  by  the  Marquis  of  Bute,  who  is  also  Earl  of  Dumfries) 
and  of  Frendraught.  The  eldest  son  became  possessed  of 
half  the  barony  of  Sanquhar  through  his  wife,  Isabelle  de 
Ros,  and  subsequently  purchased  the  whole,  and  his  descen- 
dants married  with  the  Murrays  of  Cockpool,  and  were 
mixed  up  in  Annandale  affairs.  Sir  Robert,  afterwards 
Lord  Crichton  of  Sanquhar,  was  made  Coroner  of  Niths- 
dale  in  1468,  and  he  received  from  James  III.  a  grant  of 
the  confiscated  Douglas  lands.  His  cousin.  Sir  William 
Crichton,  the  Chancellor,  was  also  created  Lord  Crichton, 
and  by  the  marriage  of  his  eldest  son,  James,  with  Lady  Janet 
Dunbar,  the  family  succeeded  to  the  barony  of  Frendraught- 
Gawin,  the  second  son  of  Lord  Crichton  and  Lady  Janet, 
seems  to  have  married  a  daughter  or  granddaughter  of 
Johnstone  of  Elphinstone,  as  he  received  with  his  wife  in 
1479  the  lands  of  Drumgrey,  viz.,  Moling,  Monyge,  Rahills, 
ifec,  in  the  barony  of  Kirkmichael,  which  had  been  con- 
ferred by  David  II.  on  a  former  Adam  Johnstone,  and  were 
afterwards  confirmed  to  Sir  Gilbert  Johnstone  of  Elphin- 
stone by  Crown  Chai'ter  in  1471.  Margaret,  the  daughter 
of  the  second  Lord  Crichton  of  Sanquhar  and  his  wife, 
Elizabeth  Murray,  married  William  Johnstone  of  Graitney, 
and  was  the  ancestress  of  the  Johnstones  of  Galabank  and 
Fulford  Hall.  The  Criclitons  possessed  lands  in  Dryfes- 
dale,  in  Kirkpatrick,  in  the  barony  of  Kirkmichael,  and  in 
tlie  barony  of  Crawsfordtoun,  now  known  as  the  parish  of 
Crawford  in  Lanarkshire ;  but  estates  wei'e  increased  or 
diminislied  with  every  generation  at  that  period,  from  the 
custom  of  portioning  ofl"  daughters  and  younger  sons  with 
land,  for  entails  were  not  restricted  to  the  senior  male 
heir,  but  to  heirs  male  generally,  or  to  both  heirs,  male  and 
female ;  and   this  led  to  frequent   exchanges  between  the 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  43 

head  of  a  family  and  his  cadets  for  the  sake  of  concentrating 
his  property.  Hence,  land  that  was  brought  by  an  heiress 
to  a  younger  son  is  sometimes  found  a  few  years  later  in 
the  hands  of  his  elder  brother's  children,  though  he  may 
himself  have  left  heirs.  An  arrangement  of  this  nature 
was  made  by  the  two  families  of  Crichton. 

Before  the  Reformation  the  Rectory  of  Sanquhar  was 
leased  from  the  Abbey  of  Holywood  for  £20  a  year  by  the 
Crichtons.  In  1494  Ninian  Crichton,  a  layman,  was  parson 
of  Sanquhar.  He  was  tutor  or  guardian  to  his  nephews 
and  niece,  the  children  of  the  second  Baron  Crichton,  as 
appears  by  various  decrees  of  the  Lords  in  Council,  in 
which  a  young  Robert  Lord  Crichton  is  mentioned  in  1525, 
who  does  not  appear  in  any  of  the  published  pedigrees  of 
the  Crichton  family,  so  he  probably  died  before  he  came  of 
age.  His  brother  "William,  who  succeeded  him,  married 
a  daughter  of  Malcolm,  Lord  Fleming.  Their  grandson, 
Robert  Crichton,  was  outlawed  for  having  caused  a  fencing 
master  to  be  murdered,  and  a  description  of  his  appearance 
was  sent  to  Carlisle  and  Dumfries  for  his  arrest.  He  is 
described  as  wearing  a  glass  eye.  He  had  lost  his  eye  by 
accident  when  fencing  some  years  before,  and  at  the  Court 
of  France  was  asked  by  the  King,  Henry  II.,  how  it  had 
liappened.  On  being  informed,  Henry  said — "  And  does 
the  fellow  live  V  which  Crichton  interpreted  as  a  reproach 
to  himself,  and  forthwith  gave  orders  to  have  the  fencing- 
master  killed.  His  heir*  ruined  himself  in  1617  by  the 
splendid  entertainment  which  he  gave  to  James  "VI.,  who 

*  This  William  Lord  Crichton  is  described  in  his  retour  as  a  natural 
son,  one  of  the  instances  in  which  that  term  is  used  in  Scottish  records 
for  a  legitimate  son. 

"  Williehrius  Crichton  fillus  naturalis  Roberti  Dominus  Crichtoun  de 
Sanquhar,  hseres  tallite  dicti  Roberti  Dominus  Crichtoun  de  Sanquhar 
patris  in  terris,  &c." 

July  15,  1619, 


44  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES. 

owed  him  a  large  sum  of  money,  tlie  proof  of  which  he 
rolled  up  into  a  torch  and  lighted  the  King  to  bed  with  it. 
His  estates  had  to  be  sold  about  thirteen  years  afterwards. 
The  Crichtons  and  Douglases  of  Drumlanrig  were  prominent 
in  promoting  the  second  Reformation ;  but  Crichtonj  the 
first  Earl  of  Dumfries  and  Stair,  was  a  supporter  of  the 
scheme  for  restoring  the  tithes  to  the  church  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  I. 


CHAPTEE    lY. 


Death  of  Malcolm  III. — Rise  of  the  Maxwells — The  John- 
stones — CaRRUTHERS — CORRYS — PvEPPTED  RELATIONSHIP  OF 
THE     NeWBIE     and     GrETNA     JoHNSTONES   TO    THE    MaRQUISES 

OF  Annandale — Curious  Charter — The  English  Invasions 
OF  Annandale— The  Annandale  Peerage  Case — John- 
stones  of  Westerhall — Note  on  Lady  Janet  Dunbar. 

WHEN  the  Castle  of  Alnwick  was  besieged  by  the  Scots 
in  1093,  the  English  garrison  capitulated  on  con- 
dition that  their  King,  Malcolm  III.,  should  in  person 
i-eceive  the  keys  of  the  gates.  They  were  brought  on  the 
top  of  a  spear  by  Mowbray,  a  knight  who  purposely  sent 
the  point  through  the  King's  eye,  causing  his  death.  One 
of  the  King's  companions  was  Ewen  de  Maccuswell,  who 
married  a  daughter  of  the  Lord  of  Galloway,  with  whom  he 
received  the  Castle  of  Caerlaverock.  It  was  in  this  strong- 
hold that  Edward  Baliol — who  reigned  during  the  minority 
and  exile  of  the  son  of  Robert  Bruce — took  up  his  abode 
to  make  his  last  stand  in  Dumfriesshire,  when  the  young- 
David  II.  was  restored  to  his  father's  throne.  An  English 
army  had  crossed  the  ford  at  the  Solway  to  Baliol's  assist- 
ance in  1332  ;  but  Caerlaverock  was  captured  by  Roger 
Kirkpatrick  and  John  Stewart,  in  the  name  of  King  David, 
whose  rival  was  compelled  to  retreat  to  England  with  a 
remnant  of  his  foreign  allies  more  anxious  to  carry  off 
their  plunder  than  to  assist  a  losing  cause.  The  Maxwells 
su2:)ported  the  Crown  against  Douglas  in  1425,  for  he  had 


46  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

hung  their  near  relation,  Lord  Hei'ries  of  Terregles.  They 
mai-ried  with  the  Carlyles,  Murrays,  Johnstones,  and  other 
Annandale  families,  and  increased  much  in  importance 
during  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  In  1424, 
Sir  Herbert  Maxwell  was  made  a  Lord  of  Parliament  by 
the  title  of  Lord  Maxwell  of  Caerlaverock,  and  a  little 
later  his  family  shared  in  the  plunder  of  the  Douglases, 
which  brought  them  into  Annandale,  and  they  supplanted 
the  Crichtons  in  Nithsdale.  Lord  JNIaxwell  was  imprisoned 
with  Archibald  Earl  of  Douglas,  the  Earl  of  Angus, 
Dunbar,  Earl  of  March,  and  Hepburn  of  Hailes,  when 
Murdoch,  Duke  of  Albany,  and  his  sons  wei-e  seized  by 
James  I.,  and  Murdoch  was  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of  Caer- 
laverock, but  as  it  was  not  politic  to  kill  the  leaders  of  the 
independent  Borderers,  who  might  be  used  again  by  the 
English  against  Scotland,  these  chiefs  were  released  after 
^Murdoch's  execution.  Early  in  the  16th  century,  the 
Maxwells  almost  monopolised  the  Wardenship  of  the 
Bordei's,  which  up  to  that  time  they  had  held  alternately 
with  the  Earls  of  March,  the  Earls  of  Douglas,  the  John- 
stones,  and  the  Murrays  of  Cockpool,  and  this  produced 
much  of  the  ill-feeling  which  existed  between  the  Maxwells 
and  the  Johnstones  for  nearly  100  years. 

The  lord  of  Johnstone,  who  fought  at  Chevy  Chase,  had 
been  a  surety  for  the  peace  with  England,  in  conjunction 
with  Sir  John  Carlyle  and  Stuart  of  Castlemilk.  His  son 
Adam  was  distinguished  in  a  battle  fought  against  the 
English  near  Graitney  or  Gretna,  where  the  Maxwells  and 
Johnstones  were  opposed  to  the  Welsh,  the  fiercest  batta- 
lions of  the  enemy  (1448).  The  contemporary  chronicler 
of  Auchinleck,  writing  from  the  victor's  side,  gives  this 
brief  description  ; — 

"  The  23d  day  of  October  was  the  battle  of  Lochmaben 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  47 

Stone,  within  the  parish  of  St.  Patrick,  where  Hugh  of 
Douglas,  Earl  of  Ormonde,  was  chieftain  on  the  Scottish 
side,  and  with  him  Sir  John  Wallace  of  Cragy,  the  Lord  of 
Johnstone,  the  Lord  Somerville's  son  and  heir,  David 
Stewart  of  Castle  Mylk,  the  Sheriff  of  Ayr,  with  other 
sundry  gentles  of  the  West  land,  and  their  men  was  called 
4000.  And  on  the  English  side  the  younger  Percy  and  Sir 
John  of  Pennyton  were  chieftains,  and  with  them  6000  of 
Englishmen ;  of  whom  their  chieftains  were  taken  and 
1500  with  them  slain;  drowned,  500." 

The  English  chronicler  Holinshed,  writing  in  1577,  gives 
a  more  detailed  account  of  the  battle,  and  a  larger  number 
of  slain.  He  also  mentions  Maxwell,  whom  the  Scottish 
chronicler  omits,  although  he  was  Warden  of  the  Marches. 
His  daughter  was  married  to  Sir  Adam  Johnstone's  eldest 
son  John.  Sir  Adam  had  married  Lady  Janet  Dunbar,* 
the  youngest  daughter  of  the  rebel  Earl  of  March.  He 
had  three  sons  besides  his  heir — Gilbert,  who  married 
Agnes,  the  heiress  of  Elphinstone,  and  was  knighted  for 
his  services  against  the  English ;  William,  who  died  in 
1 468  ;  and  a  Dumfries  record  mentions  another  son,  James, 
as  living  in  1476.  To  judge  by  the  legal  cases  in  which 
Sir  Gilbert  Johnstone  of  Elphinstone  and  his  son  Adam 
were  summoned  by  Dumfriesshire  men,  he  lived  chiefly  in 
his  native  county  till  1491,  and  then  his  name  disappears  ; 
but  most  of  his  descendants  migrated  to  Elphinstone,  in 
Haddington,  where  they  are  now  considered  to  be  extinct. 
In  1484  Sir  Gilbert  Johnstone,  as  Sheriff  of  Edinburgh, 
opened  the  session  of  Parliament,  and  was  also  a  guarantor 
of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  with  the  English. 

When  the  Albany  and  Douglas  rebellion  of  1483  was  in 
progress.   Sir  Gilbert  Johnstone,  by  order  of  James  III., 

*  See  Note  at  end  of  Chapter. 


48  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

deputed  his  nephew  Adam  of  Johnstone  to  arrest  Sir  James 
Liddell  of  Halkerstone  and  others  of  the  insurgents. 
William  and  Robert  of  Johnstone  witness  Adam  of  John- 
stone's formal  summons  to  Sir  James  to  surrender  himself 
to  the  authorities.  As  stated,  tlie  rebels  were  finally 
crushed  by  the  Dumfriesshire  chiefs,  among  whom  was  Sir 
Gilbert's  brother,  the  Lord  of  Jolmstone. 

Although  some  of  the  Carruthers  family  were  faithful  to 
the  King,  the  Laird  of  Mouswald,  their  head,  seems  to 
have  leagued  with  the  Douglases.  He  was  keeper  of  Loch- 
raaben  Castle,  and  the  Auchinleck  chronicler  relates  that 
in  1454  "the  Lord  of  Johnstone's  two  sons  took  the  Castle 
of  Lochmaben  from  the  Lord  of  Mouswald,  called  Carruthers, 
and  his  two  sons,  and  all  through  treason  of  the  porter ; 
and  since,  the  King  gave  them  the  keeping  of  the  house  to 
his  profit."  The  King's  adherents  in  Dumfriesshire — the 
Johnstones,  Maxwells,  Carruthers  of  Holmains,  Crichton  of 
Sanquhar,  Cuthbert  Murray  of  Cockpool,  and  Charteris  of 
Amistield — were  rewarded  with  part  of  the  confiscated 
estates  of  the  Corries  and  Douglases,  though  it  entailed 
long  disputes  witli  the  relatives  of  the  ancient  possessors. 
In  L516  we  find  James  Johnstone  of  that  ilk  confirmed  by 
a  Royal  Charter  in  the  barony  of  Corrie,  which  had  been 
lield  in  the  previous  century  by  the  Corrie  family  in  con- 
junction with  Newbie,  Stapleton,  and  the  parish  of  St. 
Patrick,  now  divided  into  Kirkpatrick-Fleming  and  Gretna, 
and  which  the  Corries  had  obtained  from  the  Carliles,  while 
in  1494  John  Murray  had  been  returned  heir  to  his  father 
Cuthbert  in  the  hereditary  lands  of  Cockpool,  Ryvel  or 
Ruthwell,  as  well  as  of  Rampatrick,  or  Redkirk,  also  part 
of  the  Corrie  property. 

As  the  question  whether  Newbie  Castle  and  Gretna  or 
Graitney  passed  direct  from    the  Corries  to    the    Lord  of 


AND   THE   BORDER    WARS.  49 

Johnstone  lias  been  one  of  dispute,  not  only  when  the 
Annandale  peerage  claims  were  last  tried,  but  in  1772,  in 
a  case  heard  before  the  Scottish  Courts,  when  the  Earl  of 
Hopetoun,  curator-in-law  of  the  last  Marquis  of  Annandale, 
produced  on  his  behalf  the  charter  settling  Newbie  on 
William  Jolmstone  of  Gretna,  and  his  wife,  Margaret 
Crichton,  in  1541,  we  may  here  make  some  allusion  to  this 
subject.  The  Counsel  for  the  Marquis,  who  was  trying  to 
prove  his  right  to  certain  fisheries  from  remote  times,  held 
that  the  manner  in  which  Newbie  afterwards  passed  to  the 
Lord  of  Johnstone  in  1607  shewed  that  William  John- 
stone's descendants  were  cadets  of  his  house.  Chalmers, 
in  his  Biographia,  and  the  compiler  of  the  "New  Statistical 
History  of  Scotland,"  were  impressed  with  this  notion. 
The  last  states  that  many  Johnstones  of  Annandale  are 
interred  under  the  old  church  at  Gretna ;  and  these  John- 
stones  were  all  William's  descendants.  The  author  of  the 
"  Biography  of  Eminent  Scotsmen  "  took  the  same  view, 
and  also  the  editor  of  the  Neio  Monthly  Beview  in  his 
obituary  of  the  representative  of  William's  family  in  1802. 
So  did  tlie  second  INIarquis  when  he  put  Johnstone  of 
Gretna  in  his  entail.  Tlie  Johnstones  of  Gretna  are 
described  in  the  oldest  peerages  (Crawford  of  1716,  and 
Nesbitt,  published  by  Royal  authority  in  1722)  as  cadets 
of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk  ;  and  in  various  local  histories  the 
Johnstones  of  Gretna  and  Newbie  are  also  described  as  his 
cadets.  The  same  claim  is  engraved  on  the  monument  of 
John  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  their  descendant  in  1774, 
when  the  last  Marquis  was  alive,  and  his  mother  and  two 
half  brothers  resided  at  Comlongon  Castle,  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  and  its  authority  was  not  called  in  question. 
The  connection  was,  therefore,  supported  by  common  repute. 
But  now  to  proved  facts.     In  1453  a  Gilbert  de  John- 


50  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

stone  de  Gretna  signed  a  retour  at  Dumfries  for  Lord 
Maxwell,  whose  sister  was  married  to  the  eldest  son  of  Sir 
Adam  Johnstone.  Sir  Adam's  father  was  named  Gilbert, 
and  his  second  son  was  named  Gilbert,  and  was  able  to 
write,  not  a  common  accomplishment  at  that  time.  Sir 
Adam  was  then  Warden  of  the  Borders,  and  would  there- 
fore be  likely  to  put  a  near  relative  into  Gretna,  as  it  was 
the  gateway  to  England,  and  commanded  his  own  neigh- 
bouring estates  at  Cavertsholme  and  Dunskellie.  Retours 
were  signed  by  relations  and  connections,  and  as  no  mere 
tenant  in  a  distant  place  would  have  been  called  upon  to 
sign  Lord  Maxwell's  retour  at  Dumfries  when  he  had  con- 
nections much  nearer,  it  is  probable  that  Gilbert  Johnstone 
of  Gretna  was  Gilbert,  the  second  son  of  Sir  Adam,  or  else 
a  brother  of  Sir  Adam,  and  that  he  was  custodian  of  Gretna 
Tower,  a  Border  fortress,  when  his  relative  was  Warden. 
Unless  the  Annan  was  navigable  higher  up  than  it  is  now, 
it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  lairds  of  Johnstone  could  have 
been  "  naval  admirals,"  have  owned  "  ships  to  trade  with 
English  ports,"  or,  considering  the  small  extent  of  the  family 
estates  inland,  could  have  carried  sufficient  weight  on  the 
borders  to  act  as  Constables  and  Wardens,  a  hundred  and 
hfty  years  earlier,  if  they  had  no  footing  on  the  Solway  ; 
and  Graitney  Tower  and  Saltcoats,  with  a  few  maritime 
villages  afterwards  owned  by  William  Johnstone  of  Grait- 
ney and  Newbie,  are  the  only  points  not  claimed  elsewhere. 
Hoddam  was  then  owned  l)y  the  piratical  Lord  Herries  of 
Terregles.  During  the  rest  of  the  15th  century,  there  is 
no  mention  of  Gretna  in  any  record  ;  but  a  Thomas  John- 
stone, described  as  of  Gartno — that  is,  Gretna — is  alluded 
to  in  a  justiciary  case  of  L504.  He  was  not  a  judge  of  the 
assize.  There  is  no  sasine  concerning  him  in  existence,  and 
nothing  to  show  that  he  was  a  landowner  or  had  any  con- 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  51 

nection  with  William  Johnstone,  the  young  lord  of  Gartno, 
who  appears  in  1513. 

In  1511   an  Adam  Johnstone  de   Newbie  appears  as  a 
judge  of  the  assize  at  Edinburgh.     Adam  of  Johnstone  of 
tliat  Ilk  was  dead  in  1509,  when  his  son  James  was  returned 
his  heir.      His  family,  of  all  the  leaders  of  the  King's  party 
against  the  Doui^las  rebellion,  would  have  had  no  share  in 
the   spoil  if  he  had  not  been  rewarded  with  some  of  the 
lands  of  the  rebel  Coi^ries,  who,  as  before  stated,  owned  the 
baronies  of  Corrie  and  of  Newbie,  Mylnfield,  Kobgill,  Cum- 
mertrees,  Bonshaw,  and  Stapleton,  within  a  mile  of  Gretna, 
and  adjoining  the  Laird  of  Johnstone's  property  at  Dun- 
skellie,     Cavertsholme,    and    Kirkpatrick-Fleming.       They 
would  naturally  prefer  the  estates  which  intersected  their 
own  lands,  and  being  good  soldiers  and  nearly  related,  as 
well  as  friends  at  that  time  with  the  Warden  of  the  Bordei^s, 
he  would  have  been  likely  to  appx'ove  of  their  infeftment 
into  the  part  of  the  forfeited  demesne,  which  bordered  on 
England,   to  aid  him  in  the  defence  of  the  country.      In 
1508-9  the  Lord  of  Johnstone  and  Adam  Johnstone  were 
two  of  the  judges   of  assize   who  convicted  William  Cai'- 
ruthers  of  uplifting  cattle  from  the  lands  of  Newbie.      This 
Lord  of  Johnstone  was  Adam,  who  died  a  month  or  two 
later.     The  other  Adam  Johnstone  on  the  assize  was  pro- 
bably the  same  as  Adam  Johnstone  of  Newbie  mentioned  in 
1511,  and  may  have  been  the  second  son  of  the  Laird,  or 
his  grandson,  afterwards    known    as    Adam   Johnstone  of 
Corrie. 

In  1516  James  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk  obtained  a  charter 
confirming  him  in  the  possession  of  the  Barony  of  Cori'ie. 
He  had  previously  received  a  charter  of  the  Barony  of 
Johnstone,  the  advowson  of  the  Church  of  Johnstone,  the 
lands  of  Wamphray,  the  mill  and  lands  at  Dunskellie,  in 


52  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Kirkpatrick-Flemiiig,  and  the  lands  of  Cavertsholme  (near 
Gretna)  owned  by  his  father,  "  which  lands,"  it  states, 
"  were  sequestrated  at  the  King's  instance  for  certain  fines 
of  Justice  Courts,  which  now  his  Majesty  freely  discharges, 
and  dispones  the  land  to  him  again."  This  sequestration 
must  have  taken  place  after  James  IV.  visited  Dumfries  in 
August  1504,  and  held  an  assize  in  person,  as  on  that  occa- 
sion Adam  Johnstone  was  pledge  for  his  eldest  son,  James. 
While  the  Lord  of  Johnstone  was  ejected  from  the  Barony 
of  Johnstone  and  his  residence  at  Dunskellie  he  would  be 
likely  to  live  at  Graitney  with  his  immediate  followers. 
The  Justiciary  Records  are  not  always  very  exact  in  their 
descriptions,  as  James  Johnstone  is  described  as  the  Laird 
of  Johnstone  in  his  father's  lifetime.  He  was  for  some 
years  an  outlaw,  but  in  L513  he  acted  as  pledge  at  Dum- 
fries for  his  relative,  Adam  Scot,  and  for  several  Johnstones, 
including  William,  the  young  lord  of  Gartno  (Gretna  or 
Graitney),  and  a  "David  Johnstone,  brother  to  John  John- 
stone in  Bartycupen,"  which  was  not  far  from  Lochwood, 
and  he  was  fined  for  their  non-appearance.  A  man  began 
life  early  at  that  date,  and  as  Robert  Johnstone  of  Racleuch 
was  only  eleven  years  old  when  we  find  his  name  among 
those  respited  in  L594  for  arson  and  slaughter,  William 
of  Gretna  may  have  been  no  older  in  1513.  The  David 
and  John  mentioned  were  probably  James  Johnstone's  two 
illegitimate  sons  of  that  name.  Gretna  was  not  a  lairdship, 
and  those  described  as  of  Gretna  could  not  have  been  laud- 
owners,  while  William  being  distinguished  by  the  term 
"  young  laird,"  shows  he  was  the  son  of  a  laird,  and  he 
could  not  have  made  the  good  marriage  he  did  if  he  had 
been  a  mere  tenant.  In  the  aSair  for  which  he  was  sum- 
moned in  1513,  a  relative  of  Lord  Ciichton,  the  Sheriff',* 

*  See  Chapter  VI. 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS.  53 

had  been  killed  in  an  attack  on  DumMes  bv  Maxwell  and 
his  followers,  including  these  Johnstones,  while  the  assize 
was  being  held.  Not  only  did  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  pro- 
tect William  and  David,  but  he  offered  to  pay  half  the  sum 
adjudged  by  the  Lords  in  Council  (See  Acta  Dom.  Con. 
V.  25,  f.  168,  t.  172,  1513)  to  be  paid  by  Lord  Maxwell  to 
the  injured  party.  Lord  Crichton.* 

James,  Laird  of  Johnstone,  died  in  August,  1524.  On 
October  14,  1527,  we  find  an  entry  in  the  Justiciary 
Records  that  John  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  John,  Andrew, 
and  Roland  Bell,  William  and  Matthew  Johnstone,  were 
charged  with  the  cruel  murder  of  Symon  Armstrong,  James 
Douglas  of  Drumlanrig  being  their  cautioner  ;  and  failing 
to  appear,  they  were  all  denounced  rebels,  which,  with  a 
subsequent  sequestration,  accounts  for  the  Johnstone  estates 
being  in  ward  four  years.  John  Johnstone  entailed  his 
lands  in  1542,  and  mentions  four  brothers  :  Adam  of  Corrie, 
William,  Symon,  and  John.  There  were  also  two  illegiti- 
mate brothers,  David  and  John,  so  that  in  one  family  there 
were  three  brothers  named  John.  Adam,  the  second 
brother,  had  inherited  the  barony  of  Corrie,  and  it  seems 
likely  that  he  was  the  Adam  Johnstone  of  Newbie  men- 
tioned in  1511,  and  had  later  received  from  his  father  the 
more  secure  possessions  of  Corrie.  The  Corrie  family  con- 
tinued to  claim  Newbie,  and  to  style  themselves  of  Newbie, 
as  late  as  1630,  but  Thomas  Corrie  was  an  outlaw  some 
time  before  1523,  and  being  respited  in  1527,  he  instituted 
proceedings  against  William  Johnstone  of  Graitney,  who 
for  three  years  past  {i.e.,  since  the  death  of  the  laird  of 
Johnstone)  had   occupied  the   lands  of  Newbie.      Newbie 

*  In  most  instances  the  Constables  of  the  Borders  were  given  lands 
on  condition  that  they  maintained  garrisons,  and  kept  lighted  beacons 
on  the  towers  near  the  English  frontier.  Hoddam  and  Graitney  were 
very  important  ones.     Graitney  is  a  little  to  the  east  of  the  village. 


54  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

was  worth  only  six  pounds  a  year  less  than  the  Barony  of 
Johnstone,  and,  as  we  have  stated,  with  its  dependencies 
intersected  the  estate  of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  and  was  a 
near  neighbour  to  his  chief  residence,  Dunskellie.  It  is 
clear  that  William  Johnstone  could  not  have  taken  posses- 
sion of  so  large  an  estate  without  the  concurrence  of  the 
great  Annandale  chief ;  and  Gretna,  it  appears  from  later 
documents,  was  only  held  in  feu  from  the  Murrays  of  Cock- 
pool.  The  mistake  of  calling  a  man  laird  of  a  place  when 
he  lived  there,  but  was  only  son  or  brother  of  a  laird,  occurs 
in  the  Acta  Dom.  Con.  in  1594  with  regard  to  a  Johnstone 
of  Newbie.  At  last  William  Johnstone  purchased  a  clear 
right  to  Newbie  from  Thomas  Corrie,  who  was  to  retain  a 
life  interest  in  it,  but  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Pinkie  in 
1547. 

In  1541  William  Johnstone  obtained  a  charter,  which 
the  late  Sir  John  Holker,  Attorney-General,  described  as 
the  most  extraordinary  which  had  ever  been  brought  before 
the  House  of  Lords.  He  entailed  Newbie  and  its  lands, 
l)ut  not  Gretna — first,  on  his  own  and  his  wife's  (Margaret 
Crichton)  legitimate  children ;  secondly,  on  his  own  legiti- 
mate male  heirs  ;  thirdly,  on  his  son  George  and  his  heirs  ; 
fourthly,  on  his  brother  David  and  his  heirs ;  fifthly,  on 
his  son  Herbert  and  his  heirs ;  sixthly,  on  his  son  John  and 
his  heirs ;  seventhly,  on  his  brother  John  and  his  heirs. 
These  brothers  and  sons  mentioned  by  name  were  un- 
doubtedly illegitimate,  and  the  fact  that  the  Laird  of  John- 
stone and  his  brother  William  had  at  the  same  period  two 
illegitimate  brothers,  named  David  and  John,  seemed,  with 
the  evidence  already  given,  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  the  same  people,  and  that  William  Johnstone 
of  Graitney  and  Newbie  was  identical  with  William,  the 
second  brother  of  the  laird.     Also,  the  fact  that  Graitney 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  55 

descended  to  William's  illegitimate  sou  George,  while 
Newbie  went  to  his  eldest  legitimate  son  John,  who  in 
1565  was  returned  his  father's  nearest  and  legitimate  heir, 
would  further  show  that  Graitney  was  not  regarded  as  a 
special  hereditary  possession  of  his  family.  This  John, 
second  Baron  of  Newbie,  is  the  ancestor  of  the  Jolmstones 
of  Galabank  and  now  of  Fulford  Hall.  It  appeared  as  if 
James,  lord  of  Johnstone,  had  bequeathed  the  confiscated 
Corrie  property  to  his  second  and  third  sons,  the  elder 
receiving  Corrie,  for  which  he  had  obtained  a  regular  char- 
ter;  the  other  Newbie,  for  which  he  had  to  enforce  his 
claim.  Another  brother,  James  of  Wamphray,  is  not  men- 
tioned in  the  entail,  but  in  1550  he  formed  a  bond  of  man- 
rent  with  the  laird.  The  descendants  of  George  Johnstone 
of  Graitney  died  out  in  the  male  line,  and  their  present 
representative  in  the  female  line  is  Lord  Ruthven.  In 
1592,  they  bore  the  arms  of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  charged 
with  two  mullets  to  show  cadency,  and  a  different  crest  to 
denote  legitimized  bastardy.  We  learn  by  the  charters  of 
15.36  and  1541  concerning  William  of  Graitney  that  he 
bore  the  same  arms  as  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  proving  that 
he  was  legitimate. 

In  1546  the  English  invaded  Scotland,  and  razed  Annan 
to  the  ground,  whereupon  the  neighbouring  chiefs  gave  in 
tlieir  submission,  and  swore  fidelity  to  the  English  King. 
Holinshed's  "  Scottish  History,"  published  in  1577,  men- 
tions the  Laird  of  Newbie  among  them,  but  no  other  repre- 
sentative of  the  Johnstones  ;  while  the  English  State  papers 
describe  William,  the  brother  of  the  Laird,  as  surrendering 
on  behalf  of  the  Johnstones.  They  also  speak  of  George 
Johnstone  (William  of  Newbie  and  Graitney's  eldest  illegi- 
timate son)  as  heading  the  Newbie  dependants.  The  Laird 
of  Johnstone  was  a  prisoner,  and  his  next  brother  (Adam) 


56  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

dead  ;  but  his  nephew,  James  of  Corrie,  a  man  of  full  age, 
was  also  a  prisoner  among  the  English.  In  1548  an  Act 
of  the  Scottish  Parliament  outlawed  the  Laird  of  Newbie 
and  several  other  chiefs,  but  no  other  representative  of 
Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  for  their  surrender,  and  from  this 
period  William  Johnstone  of  Newbie  disappears.  In  1558 
William  Johnstone,  brother-german  to  the  laird,  signs 
(with  his  hand  at  the  pen)  a  renunciation  of  his  rights  to 
Hartope,  in  Nithsdale,  and  as  these  lands  were  part  of  the 
Crichton  property,  the  fact  of  William  Johnstone,  Laird  of 
Kewbie,  being  married  to  a  Crichton  seemed  another  proof 
of  the  identity  of  these  Williams,  particularly  as  at  that 
period  the  English  occupied  Newbie  and  Gretna,  and  he 
had  been  outlawed  as  Laird  of  Newbie,  so  would  hardly 
have  signed  his  name  with  that  appellation.  In  1542, 
Avhen  the  Johnstone  property  was  provisionally  entailed  on 
the  Laird's  brother  William,  he  is  simply  mentioned  as 
brother-german  to  the  Laird,  but  he  did  not  possess  the 
life-rent  of  Newbie  till  1557,  and  seems  to  have  had  no 
real  property  in  Gretna  till  1544  (in  which  year  William, 
brother  of  the  Laird,  signed  his  name  himself  as  witness  to 
Simon  Carruthers,*  his  brother-in-law),  and  when,  by  letters 
under  the  Privy  Seal,  a  grant  of  the  non-entres  of  Gretna, 
that  had  been  held  by  the  Crown  since  the  decease  of  "the 
late  Johnstone,  his  father,"  is  made  to  William  of  Gretna 
until  such  time  as  another  heir  should  appear.  The  son 
and  heir  of  this  William  in  1569  acted  as  pledge  for  the 
Laird  of  Johnstone  and  his  clan,  thereby  preserving  the 
castles  of  his  chief  from  being  destroyed  by  the  Regent 
Murray  after  the  outbreak  on  behalf  of  Queen  Mary.  He 
was  a  guardian  of  the  peace  with  the  English,  and  was  one 
of  the  kinsmen  selected  by  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  to  adjust 

*  Married  to  Marion  Johnstone. 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS. 


57 


his  quarrel  with  Lord  Maxwell  in  1574.  His  son,  Edward 
Johnstone,  was  curator  to  the  young  Laird  of  Johnstone  in 
1608,  and  had  possession  of  the  Annandale  charter  chest, 
which  still  contains  many  charters  concerning  the  Newbie 
family.  In  1613  a  Crown  charter  states  that  all  the  old 
papers  concerning  Gretna  had  been  destroyed  in  the  wars 
and  conflagrations  of  which  it  had  been  the  centre,  so  it 
appears  as  if  William  Johnstone  had  been  the  custodian  of 
the  fortified  tower  at  Gretna — an  important  post  befor-e  the 


.SWEETHEART    ABBEY. 


Union  of  the  Crowns.  His  wife's  mother,  Elizabeth,  was 
tlie  daughter  of  Cuthbert  Murray  of  Cockpool.  Margaret 
Crichton's  father  was  Sir  Robert  Crichton,  Lord  of  San- 
quhar, dead  before  1517,  when  Ninian  Crichton  is  men- 
tioned as  her  guardian  ;  and  James  and  Ninian  Crichton 
were  cautioners  for  William  Johnstone  in  1535,  with  regard 
to  the  contract  with  the  Corries  of  Newbie. 

But  the  point  which  weighed   against  the  claim  of  the 
descendants  of  William  Johnstone  of  Gretna  and  Newbie, 


58  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

that  their  ancestor  was  identical  with  the  third  son  of  the 
Laird  of  Johnstone,  was  the  discovery  of  a  precept  for  a 
charter  under  the  Privy  Seal  of  1543.  It  had  been  over- 
looked by  two  searchers  in  the  Register  House  at  Edinburgh, 
but  a  copy  was  found  among  the  papers  of  a  deceased  advo- 
cate, which  brought  it  to  light.  It  was  a  precept  of 
legitimation  for  George,  Herbert,  and  John,  the  illegitimate 
sons  of  William  Johnstone  of  Gretna,  and  of  his  illegiti- 
mate brother  John,  the  natural  son  of  the  late  William 
Johnstone  of  Gretna — this  last  name  of  the  late  William, 
(fee,  being  added  over  the  line,  as  if  an  afterthought 
on  the  part  of  the  clerk.  Twenty  pounds  had  been  paid 
for  this  precept,  wliich  was  not  signed  or  followed  by  any 
charter,  so  could  never  have  been  carried  out,  as  a  precept 
of  legitimation  requires  to  be  confirmed  by  three  charters 
to  be  eflective ;  and  it  was  written  in  such  bad  Latin  that 
it  might  have  been  construed  that  one  William  was  the 
brother  of  the  other,  and  that  John  was  the  natural  son  of 
the  deceased  one.  Just  a  month  after  the  date  of  this 
precept  there  was  another  precept  for  a  charter  to  legit i- 
matise  David  and  John,  the  natural  sons  of  James,  the  Laird 
of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  and  this  precept  was  given  gratis, 
and  followed  by  a  charter.  It  might  have  been  suggested 
that  the  first  was  erroneous,  and  did  not  include  William's 
illegitimate  brother  David,  and  that  the  second,  which  was 
issued  just  sufiiciently  long  after  to  allow  of  a  journey  from 
Edinburgh  to  Annan  and  back  again,  was  a  correction  of 
the  first,  and  hence  given  without  a  fee ;  that  William 
Johnstone  of  Newbie  had  desired  the  legitimation  of  the 
two  brothers  whom  he  had  named  in  his  entail,  not  of  his 
sons,  who  might  in  that  case  have  interfered  with  the 
rights  of  his  and  Margaret  Crichton's  legitimate  son  John  ; 
and  that  the  father's  name — the  late  William  Johnstone  of 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  59 

G-retna— had  been  ignorantly  added  by  the  clerk,  as  it  was 
usual  in  such  cases  to  give  the  father's  name,  and  "  William 
Johnstone,  young  Lord  of  Gartno,"*  was  a  name  found  in 
the  Justiciary  Records  in  Edinburgh,  as  sharing  in  an 
affray  in  1513.  But  even  if  the  two  Williams  were  not 
identical  they  were  evidently  closely  related. 

Sir  Frederick  Johnstone  of  Westerhall  claimed  the 
Annandale  Peerages  on  the  ground  that  his  ancestor 
Matthew  was  a  son  of  Sir  Adam  Johnstone,  who  died  in 
1455.  Sir  Adam  left  four  sons — John,  his  heir;  Gilbert 
of  Elphinstone  ;t  William,  who  died  1468;  James,  who 
was  living  in  1476;  and  an  old  peerage  includes  Adam 
of  Pensakke,  who  was  dead,  but  leaving  a  son  Robert 
before  1495.  Unlike  the  Johnstones  of  Galabank  and 
Fulford  Hall,  Sir  Frederick  was  descended  almost  invari- 
ably from  eldest  sons.  Matthew  is  described  as  armiger  or 
esquire  in  1455.  There  are  several  Matthew  Johnstones 
on  record  in  that  century,  but  it  is  a  name  absent  from  the 

*  Most  family  histories  conjecture  that  the  marriage  of  Lady 
•Tanet  Dunbar  with  Sir  Adam  Johnstone  took  place  only  in  1448  ;  but 
that  is  not  likely  (and  there  is  no  proof  that  he  had  a  previous  wife),  if 
she  were  the  mother,  as  is  alleged,  of  his  younger  son,  Sir  Gilbert  John- 
stone of  Elphinstone,  for  her  grandson  (by  her  first  husband,  Sir  John 
Seton)  was  in  possession  of  his  grandfather's  estates  in  1441,  and  in  1448 
he  was  Ambassador  Extraordinary  to  the  Court  of  England.  Her  eldest 
son,  the  father  of  this  grandson,  was  killed  in  battle  in  1424,  and  her 
father  was  a  Commissioner  of  the  Peace  with  England  in  1380.  Her 
eldest  sister  had  been  betrothed  to  David,  Prince  of  Scotland,  an  engage- 
ment broken  off  before  1402. 

+  Mr  Archibald  Johnstone  of  Herriothill,  Edinburgh,  writes  that  he 
lielieves  himself  to  be  a  descendant  of  the  Johnstones  of  Elphinstone 
(whom  two  lawsuits  have  declared  to  be  extinct  in  the  male  line).  They 
exi)orted  coal  from  Haddington  till  it  was  stojiped  by  an  order  from  the 
Lords  in  Council,  who  feared  the  supply  would  become  exhausted.  The 
home  trade  was  overstocked,  and  having  to  support  all  the  work  people 
withoiTt  remuneration,  they  were  obliged  to  dispose  of  their  lands,  and 
removed  to  Newmonkland,  where  they  again  fanned  and  mined  for 
coal  about  1(393.  But  the  heiresses  of  Elphinstone,  as  of  Wamphray,  in 
more  than  one  instance,  married  .Tohnstones  of  another  branch,  in 
accordance  with  their  father's  will,  and  in  this  way  their  maiden  name 
remained  tt)  their  descendants. 


60  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES. 

direct  line  of  Johnstones  of  that  Ilk.  Sir  Frederick's 
ancestor  received  lands  in  Lanarkshire  for  service  against 
the  rebel  Douglas  ;  and  his  descendants  were  from  that 
time  little  seen  in  Dumfriesshire  till  the  close  of  the  16th 
century,  when  they  sold  their  property  in  Lanarkshire,  and 
came  to  live  on  their  present  demesne,  the  head  of  their 
house  having  married  the  sister  of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk. 
They  have  long  been  reported  to  be  an  early  branch  of  the 
Johnstones  of  Lochwood,  but  they  were  unable  to  produce 
proof  of  the  connection  of  the  two  families  at  any  special 
link.  Their  claim,  like  tliat  of  Mr  Edward  Johnstone  of 
Fulford  Hall,  was  therefore  declared  to  be  not  proved  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  House  of  Lords  in  1881. 


CHAPTER     V. 

Grahames  —  Prince  Charles  —  Gordons  —  Jaruines  —  Kirk- 
PATKiOKS—CrMMiNGs— Flemings — Claimant  of  the  Wigton 
Title— Carrtjtherses—Carlyles—Murrays— Lord  Mans- 
field— Thieves  of  Liddesdale — The  Debateable  Land  — 
Irvings—Charteris— Stewarts— Fergussons— Few  Heirs 
of  the  Male  Line — Griersons— Herries— Maitlands — 
BoswELLs— Clark  Kennedys— Dunw^ddies— Bells— Romes. 

THE  Grahames,  including  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  and 
tlie  Grahams  of  Mossknowe*  and  the  other  parts  of 
Dumfriesshire,  claim  descent  from  King  Grime,  a  Scottish 
sovereign  who  reigned  for  a  short  time  in  1010.  Some  of 
the  family  were  more  English  than  Scotch,  for  they 
generally  joined  the  enemy  when  Scotland  was  invaded, 
and  if  pursued  for  a  theft  retreated  into  Cumberland,  and 
claimed  protection  as  Englishmen.  Not  long  before  the 
Union  of  the  two  crowns  their  depredations  in  both  coun- 
tries nearly  caused  a  war.  The  Laird  of  Johnstone  was 
deputed  to  keep  them  in  order;  and  at  last,  after  1603, 
James  VI.  exiled  the  greater  part  of  them  to  Ireland  with 
the  strictest  orders  never  to  return,  "  because,"  as  he  said 
in  his  proclamation,  "  they  do  all  confess  themselves  to  be 
no  meet  persons  to  live  in  these  countries,  and  also  to  the 
intent  that  their  lands  may  he  inhabited  by  others  of  good 


*  Sir  R.  Graham  of  Esk,  born  1843,  and  the  Grahames  of  Netherby 
represent  the  English  branch.  Colonel  Graham  of  Mossknowe,  born 
1797,  had  William  (born  1832),  John  Gordon,  Charles  Stewart,  Rosina, 
Grace  (married  Captain  Murray,  R.X.),  and  Clementina. 


62  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

and  honest  conversation,"  "  The  vulgar  sort,"  as  they  are 
termed  in  the  legal  procedure,  were  always  easily  dealt 
with  by  execution,  but  it  was  the  sons  and  Ijrothers  of  the 
lairds  who  were  the  great  obstacles  to  peace.  Among 
Lord  Muncaster's  charters  there  are  some  curious  details. 
"  Richie  Grahame,"  brother  of  the  lord  of  Netherby,  it  was 
pointed  out,  was  the  great  offender,  and  it  would  cause  an 
outcry  if  others  were  banished  and  he  allowed  to  remain. 
Some  of  his  relations  escaped  into  Scotland,  where,  we 
hear,  they  were  protected  by  Johnstones,  Carliles,  and 
Irvings,  "who  are  related  to  them."  A  Christopher  Irving 
was  hung  with  some  of  the  murderers  of  Carmichael  (the 
Scottish  Warden).  Simon  de  Musgrave,  of  a  distinguished 
English  border  family,  is  described  as  one  of  this  lawless 
crew,  and  among  them  a  Herbert  Johnstone  was  expelled, 
whose  descendants  still  live  in  Ireland.  Lord  Cumberland 
helped  to  pay  the  expense  of  their  transportation  in  return 
for  a  gift  of  their  land. 

In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  Sir  Richard  Grahame  of 
Netherby  obtained  an  alteration  of  the  boundary  line 
between  England  and  Scotland,  so  that  his  property  in 
the  parish  of  Kirkandrews-upon-Esk  might  in  future  be 
English  ground.  He  had  accompanied  Charles,  when 
Prince  of  Wales,  on  a  journey  through  France  and  Spain  ; 
and  Wotton  relates  the  following  anecdote  : — "  They  were 
entered  into  the  deep  time  of  Lent,  and  could  get  no  flesh 
in  their  inns.  There  was  near  Bayonne  a  herd  of  goats, 
with  their  young  ones ;  upon  the  sight  whereof  Sir  Richard 
Grahame  tells  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham  that  he  would 
snap  one  of  the  kids,  and  make  some  shift  to  carry  him 
snug  to  their  lodging.  Which  the  Prince  overhearing, 
"Why,  Richard,"  says  he,  "do  you  think  you  may  practise 
here    your  old  tricks  upon    the    Borders?"     Upon  which 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  63 

words  they,  in  the  tirst  place,  gave  the  goat  herd  good 
contentment ;  and  then  while  the  Marquis  and  Richard, 
being  both  on  foot,  were  chasing  the  kid  about  the  stock, 
the  Prince  from  horseback  killed  him  in  the  head  with  a 
pistol."  The  Grahames  are  enumerated  among  the  followers 
of  Douglas  at  Otterboui'ne  in  1387 — 

He  chose  the  Gordons  and  the  Grsemes, 
With  them  the  Lindsays  light  and  gay  ; 

But  the  Jardines  will  not  with  him  ride, 
And  they  rue  it  to  this  day. 

The  name  of  Gordon  is  the  same  as  that  of  Bei'trand  de 
Jourdain,  the  French  archer  who  shot  Richard  I.  at  Chalons 
in  1199.  It  is  found  in  Scotland  about  that  period,  and 
Sir  Adam  Gordon,  in  1297,*  was  a  faithful  adherent  to 
Sir  William  Wallace.  His  descendants  married  with  the 
Crichtons  and  Murrays,  and  owned  lands  in  Dumfriesshire, 
where  they  became  renowned  as  the  Lords  of  Loch  invar. 
The  title  of  Viscount  Kenmure  was  conferred  on  Sir  John 
Gordon  by  Charles  I.  in  1633.  His  last  direct  descendant, 
the  Hon.  Louisa  Bellamy  Gordon,  sister  and  heiress  of 
Adam,  lltli  Viscount  Kenmure,  and  widow  of  Charles 
Bellamy,  died  May  31,  1886. 

The  Jardines  of  Applegirth  are  descendants  of  Jardin  or 
Gardin,  who  came  over  with  the  Conqueror,  and  their 
signatures  are  attached  to  charters  a  century  after  this  date. 
They  inter-married  with  the  first  families  in  Dumfriesshire, 
and  appear  as  Knights  in  the  14th  century,  when  Sped- 
lings  Castle  in  Lochmaben  was  their  possession.  Their 
baronetcy  dates  from  1672.  The  late  Sir  William  Jardine 
of  Applegirth  was  much  distinguished  for  his  scientific 
attainments. 

The  Kirkpatricks  are  a  Celtic  family  found  very  early  in 

*  Represented  by  David  Gordon,  Esq.  of  Ciilvennan,  Kirkcudbright- 
shire, born  1828,  and  by  Sir  William  Gordon  of  Earlston,  born  1830, 


64  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Scottish  history,  and  like  the  Jardiues  have  required  no 
higher  title  than  "  chevalier  "  to  give  lustre  to  an  ancient 
name.  Closeburn*  was  granted  to  Ivon  Kirkpatrick  in 
1232,  by  Alexander  II.  of  Scotland,  and  the  great- 
ijfrandson  of  this  Ivon  was  the  Knight  who  stabbed  the 
dying  Cumyn  at  the  back  of  the  High  Altar  in  the  Grey 
Friars  Church  in  Dumfries  in  1305.  Cumyn  and  Robert 
Bruce  had  a  dispute,  and  Bruce  leaving  the  church  in  some 
agitation  met  Kirkpatrick,  who  asked  him  what  had  hap- 
pened. "  I  doubt,"  said  Bruce,  "  I  have  slain  the  Cumyn.'' 
"You  doubt,"  cried  Kirkpatrick,  "  I'se  mak  sicker  "  (I  will 
make  sure),  an  expression  which  his  family  afterwards 
adopted  as  their  motto,  and  rushing  in  with  Sir  James 
Lindsay  they  despatched  first  Cumyn,  and  then  his  uncle. 
Sir  Robert  Cumyn,  who  was  hurrying  into  the  church. 
Duncan  Kirkpatrick,  the  fatlaer  of  this  assassin,  had  in 
1280  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  David  Carlile  of  Torthor- 
wald,  who  owned  estates  about  Annan  and  Kirkpatrick- 
Fleming.  He  is  mentioned  in  tlie  following  lines  by  Blind 
Harry,  the  minstrel : — 

Kirkpatrick  that  cruel  was  and  keyiie, 
In  Esdaill  wod  that  yer  he  had  been  ; 
With  EngUshmen  he  could  noch  weill  accord  ; 
Of  Torthorwald  he  baron  was  and  lord  ; 
Of  kyne  he  was  to  Wallace  modyr  ner. 

The  family  of  Cumyn  are  now  represented  by  Sir 
William  Gordon  Cumming,  fourth  baronet,  born  in  1848. 
A  Comin  appears  on  the  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey,  but  Hoi  in- 
shed  refers  their  origin  to  1124.  "In  the  days  of  this 
King  Alexander,  the  kindred  of  the  Cummings  had  their 
beginning  by  one  John  Cumming,  a  man  of  great  prowess 
and  valiancy,  obtaining  of  the  King  in  respect  thereof 
certain  small  portions  of  land  in  Scotland." 

*The  Castle  contained  an  oubliette  or  secret  dungeon.     It  passed 
from  the  Kirkpatricks  more  than  a  100  years  ago. 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  65 

One  branch   of  the   Kirkpatricks  died  out    in    Thomas 
Kirkpatrick    of    Auldgirth,    about    1665,    and     his    sister 
Janet  married  John  Johnstone  of  Galabank  in  1670.     The 
present  representative  is    Sir   James    Kirkpatrick,    whose 
baronetcy  dates  from  1685.     A  scion  of  the  family  settled 
at  Malaga    early  in    the    present   century   as    agent    to    a 
Scottish  wine  merchant,  and  was  very  useful  to  the  com- 
missariat department  of  the    Britisli  army  in   the   Penin- 
sular   War.     He    had    three    daughters,  whose    brilliant 
complexion  and  fair  hair,  as   well  as   handsome   fortunes, 
were    the   admiration    of   the    Spanish    dons,    and    among 
frequent  visitors  at  his  house  was  the  Count  de  Teba,  an 
impoverished  nobleman  of  ancient  lineage,  who  had  served 
under   the    French    and    been    frightfully    injured    by    an 
explosion  which,  it  is  said,  had  deprived  him  of  a  leg  and 
an    arm.     Yet,  in  course  of  time,  the  second  of  the   Miss 
Kirkpatricks    became  first  the   Countess  de   Teba,  and   a 
little  later,  on  her  husband  succeeding  to  a  distant  relative's 
title  and  estate.  Countess  de  Montijo,  better  known  as  the 
mother  of  the  ex-Empress  of  the  French.     Some  difficulty 
Avas  raised  by  the  Spanish  Court,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
a  mesalliance  ;  but  her  father,  who  died  insolvent,  applied 
to  the  well  known  antiquary,  Mr  Kii'kpatrick  Sharpe,  for 
the  Kirkpatrick  pedigree,  and  when  it  was  handed  over  to 
the  authorities  who  had  a  right  to  veto  the  marriage  of  a 
grandee  it  was  considered  sufficient  proof  of  the  lady's  noble 
blood.     Another  sister  married  a  wine  grower  in  Andalusia, 
and  the  third  an  official  employed  in  the  Commissariat  of 
the  British  army.     The  Count  de  Teba  and  Montijo  died 
in  1823,  after  being  separated  from  his  wife,  as  is  shown 
by  a  lawsuit  a  few  years  later. 

The   Flemings,   supposed    to  descend   from   a   native    of 

Flanders,  were  in  ancient  times  barons  in  the  parish  of  St. 

5 


66  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Patrick,  part  of  which  preserves  their  name  in  its  modern 
style,  Kirkpatrick-Fleming.  A  branch  of  the  family  were 
created  Earls  of  Wigton,  but  the  title  became  extinct  in 
1747.  It  was  assumed  at  that  time  by  Charles  Ross 
Fleming,  M.D.,  of  Dublin,  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  James 
Fleming  of  Kilkenny,  and  he  voted  without  challenge  at 
Holy  rood  in  several  elections  of  Scottish  representative 
Peers.  In  1761  he  was  ordered  to  appear  before  the  House 
of  Lords  and  show  by  what  authority  he  took  that  title, 
whereupon  he  presented  a  petition  in  the  usual  form,  pray- 
ing their  Lordships  to  allow  him  to  take  up  the  honours, 
dignities,  &c.;  but  it  was  decided  that  he  had  not  proved 
his  claim.  He  died  October  18,  1769,  and  seven  years  later 
his  son,  Hamilton  Fleming,  presented  a  petition  to  the 
House  of  Lords  to  the  same  effect,  but  was  also  unable  to 
prove  his  descent  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  House.  His 
only  child,  Harriet,  married  William  Gyll,  Esq.  of  Wyra- 
disbury  House,  Bucks. 

The  Carruthers  family  appear  to  have  been  in  Dum- 
friessliire  as  far  back  as  the  Kirkpatricks,  and  are  first 
found  on  the  lands  of  Carruthers  in  the  modern  parish  of 
Middlebie.  Thomas,  son  of  Robert  Carruthers,  received  a 
grant  of  Mouswald  from  Robert  Bruce.  Their  estate 
stretched  northward  into  the  district  of  Wamphray,  wliich 
they  shared  with  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  and  they  Avere 
made  Barons  of  Mouswald  in  the  15th  century.  Simon 
Carruthers  and  his  wife,  Catherine  Carlile,  had  a  charter 
of  lands  in  Cummertrees  in  1516,  and  their  son  Simon 
married  Agnes,  a  daughter  of  Murray  of  Cockpool.  Their 
grandson,  Simon,  mnrried  Marion  Johnstone,  and  left  two 
daughters,  Janet  and  Marion.  The  elder  married  Rorison 
of  Barndennoch,  and  a  curious  bond  relating  to  the  younger 
daughter  is  dated  Edinburgh,  September  13,  1563 — "The 
which    day   Thomas    Bortliick   of    Pryncade    and    Michael 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  67 

Borthick  of  Cxlengall  became  pledges  and  securities  for 
jNIarion  Cai-ruthers,  one  of  tlie  two  heiresses  of  Mouswald, 
that  she  shall  not  marry  any  chief  traitor  nor  broken  man 
{i.  e.,  outlaw  and  adventurer  not  belonging  to  a  clan)  of  the 
country,  nor  join  herself  with  any  such  person  under  the 
pain  of  one  thousand  pounds." 

In  1426  Roger  Carrutliers,  a  son  of  the  Laird  of  Mous- 
wald, had  a  charter  from  Douglas,  Lord  of  Galloway  and 
Annandale,  of  Holmains,  with  Dalton  and  other  lands  • 
and  his  descendants  branched  off  into  the  families  of  Hol- 
mains,* Wormanbie,t  and  Dormont.     They  owned  estates 

*  John  Carruthers  of  Holmaitis,  married  to  Charlotte,  daughter  of  Sir 
Robert  Laurie  of  Maxwelton,  was  obliged  to  sell  his  family  property  in 
the  last  century  in  consequence  of  the  series  of  calamities  to  which 
iJumfriesshire  had  been  subjected,  culminating  in  bank  failures,  spread- 
ing general  ruin.     His  descendants  died  out  in  the  male  line,  but  the 
family  is  represented  in  the  female  by  his  great  grandson,  the  Rev. 
William  Mitchell  Carruthers,  eldest  son  of  the  late  General  St.  Leger 
Mitchell,  born  1853,  incumbent  of  Brunswick  Chapel,  IMayfair;  married, 
and  has  issue.     In  1788,  when  the  franchise  was  very  limited,  John 
Carruthers  is  described  as  having  no  longer  a  vote,  and  it  is  remarkable 
that  all  who  were  then  stated  in  a  secret  memoir  to  have  any  fortune  or 
sufficient  estate  to  qualify  them  were  in  a  profession  or  business,  or  had 
acquired  wealth  elsewhere  than  in  Dumfriesshire.     There  were  52  voters, 
and  persons  were  incapacitated  who  in  the  year  preceding  an  election 
had  iDeen  twice  present  at  divine  service  where  the  officiating  minister 
had  not  taken  the  oath  to  King  (ieorge,  nor  prayed  for  the  Royal  family. 
Sir  -Tanies  Kirkpatrick  was  a  lawyer  ;  also  Charles  Sharp  of  Hoddom, 
who  was  keeper  of  the  harriers  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.     Patrick  Miller 
of  Dalswinton  had  made  his  fortune  as  a  banker  at  Glasgow,  and  Sir 
Robert   Herries   was   a  banker   in   London ;   Alexander  Fergusson   of 
Craigdarroch  was  an  advocate  ;  Dr  -James  Hunter  and  his  two  brothers, 
one   a  minister  and  the  other  a  Writer   to  the  Signet ;   Sir  William 
Pulteney,  a  barrister,  and  his  young  cousin,  Richard  Berup  de  John- 
stone (ancestor  to  Lord  Derwent),  whose  fortune  was  derived  from  his 
grandfather,  a  Dutch  merchant ;  Maxwell  of  Barncleugh  ;  the  Baronet 
of    Westerhall,    described   as    a    very   independent    honest    man,  _  his 
brothers;  .John  Johnstone  of  Donovan,  described  as  immensely  rich; 
Hugh  Corrie  and  Thomas  Goldie,  both  writers ;  David  Armstrong  and 
William  Copeland,  advocates  ;  William  Elliot  of  Arkletoun  ;  Sir  Wm. 
Maxwell  of  Springkell ;   George  Milligan  Johnstone  of  Corhead  and 
George  Johnston  of  Cowhill,  both  merchants  and  new  proprietors  ;  Sir 
R.   Grierson's  brother  was  a   merchant ;   Mackie  of  Palgowan,  in  the 
English   Civil   Service ;    Sir   William   Maxwell   of   Springkell,    Bart.  ; 
William  Jardine  ;  and  Robert  Wightman  Henderson,  conclude  the  list, 
t  This  branch  became  extinct  in  the  male  line  with  the  late  D.   A. 
Carruthers,  Esq.,  whose  grandson,  Louis  Carruthers  Salkeld,  now  owns 
the  estate. 


68  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

bordering  on  Lockerbie,  Lochmaben,  Annan,  and  Kirk- 
patrick-Fleming ;  and  when  the  town  of  Annan  received  a 
charter  in  1538,  they  prevented  the  boundary  of  the  burgh 
being  defined  where  it  joined  their  property,  so  that  at 
some  future  time  they  might  quietly  annex  it.  The  Laird 
of  Holmains,  with  162  followei's,  was  compelled  to  sur- 
render to  the  English  after  the  battle  of  Pinkie,  in  1547, 
and  was  among  those  chiefs  who  were  declaimed  traitors  by 
the  Parliament  of  Scotland  in  1548.  This  Laird  John 
Carruthers  was  married  to  Blanche  Murray  of  Cockpool, 
and  one  of  their  dauo-hters  married  Gilbert  Johnstone  of 
Wamphray.  Another  (Marion)  married  John  Johnstone 
of  Newbie.  A  son  of  Carruthers  was  parson  of  Wamphray, 
which  at  that  period  was  by  no  means  the  same  as  having 
taken  holy  orders ;  for  one  of  the  crimes  against  which 
John  Knox  preached  most  loudly  was  the  alienation  of  the 
Church  lands  and  tithes  to  secular  purposes — a  practice 
carried  to  an  extreme  in  Scotland  before  the  Reformation. 
Even  the  Abbots  Avere  sometimes  seculars.*  There  is  an 
agreement,  dated  January,  1561,  between  Robert  John- 
stone, himself  a  lay  parson  of  Lochmaben,  and  Margaret 
M'Clellan,  the  widow  of  his  uncle,  James  Johnstone  of 
Wamphray,  to  the  effect  that,  "  Forasmuch  as  the  said 
Robert  having  obtained  a  lease  of  Sir  James  Carruthers, 
parson  of  Wamphray,  of  the  whole  parsonage  and  vicarage, 
tithes,  fruits,  and  endowments  pertaining  to  the  said  par- 
sonage and  vicarage,  for  the  space  of  his  life-time,  and  the 

*  Some  of  the  iiTegularities  in  Church  matters  were  probably  due  to  a 
foreign  ecclesiastical  government  being  established  in  the  country.  In 
the  reign  of  Henry  III.  the  Pope  placed  400  Italians  in  English  bene- 
fices, and  manj'  foreign  priests  received  preferment  in  Scotland  before 
the  Reformation.  The  services  and  religious  books  were  in  Latin,  and 
although  the  Church  lauds  were  spared  in  the  rules  of  ordinary  warfare, 
this  custom  was  not  regarded  in  the  English  and  Scottish  wars.  In 
many  cases  the  vicars  and  monks  were  aliens,  and  looked  upon  by  both 
armies  with  national  dislike 


AND   THE   BOEDER   WARS.  69 

said  Margaret  having  had  the  parsonage,  vicarage,  and 
endowments  thereof  from  the  said  Sir  James  for  his  life- 
time before  the  lease  since  made  to  the  said  Robert,  which 
was  wrongly  and  evil  given  against  all  law  and  good 
conscience,  and  in  hurt  and  prejudice  of  the  said  Margaret's 
lease  befoi'e  expressed ;  therefore  the  said  Robert  gives  up 
the  letters  of  lease  to  the  said  Margai-et  to  be  used  by  her 
from  henceforth."  Signed  by  James  Rigg,  Mungo  Car- 
michael,  and  the  master  of  Maxwell.  Margaret  being  un- 
able to  write  her  hand  was  guided  by  the  notary. 

Throughout  the  15th,  16tli,  and  17tli  centuries  the 
Carlyles  appear  in  public  transactions  connected  with  the 
county  of  Dumfries.  In  1435  Sir  William  Carlyle  accom- 
panied a  body  of  6000  archers  to  France,  when  the  daughter 
of  James  I.  was  married  to  the  Dauphin,  afterwards  Louis 
XI.  in  1435.  This  knight  was  infefted  in  Brydekirk 
among  other  estates,  before  1466.  He  gave  a  bell  to  the 
town  of  Dumfries,  bearing  the  inscription  in  old  Latin  : — 
"  "William  de  Carliel,  Lord  of  Torthorwald,  caused  me  to  be 
made  in  honour  of  St.  Michael,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord, 
1443."  His  son  Sir  John  was  created  Lord  Carlyle  of 
Torthorwald  in  1471  ;  and  the  second  peer  entered  into  a 
bond  in  1496,  that  he  and  his  spouse  "  should  be  harmless 
of  William  Carlile,  his  grandson  and  heir,  who  had  married 
a  daughter  of  Lord  Maxwell,  and  that  the  said  William 
should  be  iiarmless  of  Lord  Carlile."  John  Johnstone  of 
that  Ilk  (a  brother  or  uncle  to  the  laird,  whose  name  was 
Adam)  was  the  security.  A  similar  bond  was  signed  a 
month  before  by  the  same  John  Johnstone  and  his  spouse, 
and  Lord  Carlyle,  viz.,  that  they  should  keep  the  peace.  In 
1573,  Michael,  Lord  Carlyle,  having  survived  his  eldest 
son,  who  left  only  a  daughter,  executed  a  deed  bequeathing 
his  title  and   estates  to  his  second   son.     It  is  witnessed 


70  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

by  Adam  Carlyle  of  Brydekirk,  his  near  relation,  and  by 
Alexander,  son  and   heir  of  this  Adam  Carlyle ;  also,  by 
John  Carlyle  of  Brakenthwaite,  Peter  Carlyle,  son  of  Lord 
Carlyle,  and  others.     But  after  his  death  the  inheritance 
was  long  disputed  between   his  grand-daughter  Elizabeth 
and  her  uncle  Michael,  and  eventually  decided  in  favour  of 
the  lady,   who   married   Sir  James  Douglas  of  Parkhead. 
After  both  had   been  almost   ruined   by   the   contest,   the 
eldest  son   of   Elizabeth  and   Sir  James   Douglas   was   re- 
created   Lord     Carlyle    in    1609.       The    male    descent    of 
Michael,    fourth   Lord    Carlyle,    still    claimed    the    ancient 
barony  in  1764.     Alexander  Carlyle,  Laird  of  Brydekirk, 
and  his  son  Adam,  the  young  laird,  are  mentioned  by  Sir 
Thomas  Carleton,  the  English  Warden  of  the  Borders  in 
L547,  as  the  only  gentry  in  Annandale,   Liddesdale,  and 
Nithsdale   who    had    never    submitted    to    the    English, 
except  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig.     His  family  branched  off 
into  several  representatives.      One  of  these,  Adam  Carlyle, 
was  a  merchant  and  bailie  of  Annan.      He  married  Janet 
Muirhead,    and  left  two   children — James,   whose  descen- 
dants migrated  to  Paisley,  and  now  live    in  England,  and 
Isobel,   married    to    Edward  Johnstone   of   the   family   of 
Newbie  and  Galabank.     He  died  in  1686,  and  lies  buried 
under  a  legible  inscription  in  the  old  churchyard  in  Annan, 
close  to  the  grave  of  his  daughter  and  her  husband. 

The  Murrays  of  Cockpool  descend  from  a  knight  who 
married  the  sister  of  Thomas  Randolph,  the  first  Earl  of 
Murray,  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  III.,  and  were  estab- 
lished at  Comlongon  and  Ryvel,  or  Ruthwell,  in  1331. 
John  Murray  was  returned  heir  to  his  father  Cuthbert  in 
the  lands  of  Cockpool,  Ryvel,  and  Redkirk,  July  17,  1494. 
At  the  union  of  tlie  two  crowns  a  commission  sat  for  twenty 
years  to  inquire  into  the  titles  of  the  landowners  on  the 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  71 

Borders,  and  to  ensure  their  pacification  ;  and  as  during 
the  wars  of  wliioh  that  district  had  constantly  been  the 
centre  many  title-deeds  were  destroyed  in  burnt  houses  and 
towns,  it  was  a  splendid  opportunity  for  those  in  favour  at 
Court  to  recover  what  they  could  prove  had  belonged  to 
their  families  centuries  before,  if  not  to  increase  their 
possessions  where  they  really  had  no  claim.  James  Murray 
of  Cockpool,  a  Royal  favourite,  and  a  gentleman  of  the 
Bedchamber,  increased  his  property  much  during  that 
twenty  years,  and  his  descendant  in  the  female  line,  the 
present  Earl  of  Mansfield,  now  owns  Gretna,  wiiich  Murray 
bought  back  from  the  Johnstones  in  1618.  His  brother 
John  received  tlie  titles  of  Viscount  Annand  and  Earl  of 
Annandale,  which  became  extinct  in  1658.  James  Murray, 
only  son  of  this  John,  retired  into  England,  and  lived  there 
privately  during  the  Civil  War.  His  widow  married  his 
distant  relative,  David  Murray,  lord  of  Scone,  and  Viscount 
Stormont,  whose  eldest  son  married  Marjory,  daughter  of 
David  Scot  of  Scotstarvit,  and  grand-daughter  through 
female  descents  of  James  JMurray  of  Cockpool.  This 
marriage  united  'the  Murray's  property  in  Dumfriesshire 
to  the  Perthshire  estates  of  the  Murrays  of  Scone  and 
Stormont. 

The  MuxTays  of  Scone  had  already  produced  one  eminent 
Scottish  lawyer,  but  the  most  celebrated  of  the  family  was 
the  fourth  son  of  David,  sixth  Viscount  Stormont,  and  of 
INIarjory  Scot — -William,  created  Earl  of  Mansfield,  who 
was  born  at  Comlongon  Castle  in  1742.  He  is  immor- 
talised by  a  statue  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and  by  the 
talents  which  raised  him  from  an  almost  penniless  younger 
son  to  be  Solicitor-General,  Attorney-General,  Lord  Chief- 
Justice,  and  a  member  of  the  Cabinet.  He  married  a 
daughter  of  the   Eai-1  of  Winchelsea,   and    owing  to    the 


72  THE    HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

extinction  of  the  lineage  of  his  three  elder  brothers  his 
descendant  inherits  the  family  title  of  Stormont  as  well  as 
that  of  Mansfield. 

The  ford  across  the  mouth  of  the  Esk  where  it  flows  into 
the  Solway  was  the  favourite  passage  by  which  the  English 
entered  Scotland,  and  the  Scots  marched  through  it  to 
assault  Carlisle  ;  so  that  the  post  of  guard  was  conferred 
by  the  English  King  on  a  notably  worthy  warrior.  The 
tract  between  the  Esk  and  Sark,  when  Edward  III.  was 
driven  from  Dumfriesshire,  fell  into  the  hands  of  moss- 
troopers and  brigands,  chiefly  connected  with  the  Liddes- 
dale  families  of  Scot,  Elliot,  Little,  Trumble,  and  Armstrong. 
The  thieves  of  Liddesdale  and  the  outlaws  of  Leven  they 
are  generally  termed  in  the  Scottish  annals,  and  tlieir 
alliance  was  courted  by  the  chiefs  of  Annandale  in 
numerous  civil  feuds.  This  ground  being  claimed  alter- 
nately by  England  and  Scotland,  became  known  as  the 
Debateable  Land  ;  but,  by  a  treaty  in  1552,  it  was  divided 
between  the  two  kingdoms,  and  stone  pillars  set  up  along 
the  frontier  to  mark  the  boundary.  The  Irvings  of  Rob- 
gill  and  Bonshaw  at  this  time  occupied  the  Scottish  terri- 
tory nearest  to  the  mouth  of  the  Esk.  William  Johnstone 
of  Gretna  and  Newbie  mortgaged  Sarkbrig  and  Conheath 
to  Richai'd  Irving,  and  leased  Stapleton  to  Christopher 
Irving  of  Bonshaw,  whose  son  married  Margaret,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk.  There  were  one  or  two  more 
marriages  between  the  Irvings  and  Johnstones  of  Newbie 
and  of  Jolmstone,  so  that  the  Irvings  acquired  a  "  kyndlie  " 
— i.e.,  a  kinsman's  right  to  live  in  the  barony  of  Newbie 
without  title-deeds.  Tlieir  name  early  appears  among  the 
followers  of  Robert  Bruce ;  and  Dick  Irving,  a  notoi'ious 
freebooter,  was  captured  by  the  English  in  1527.  His 
relations  retaliated  by  seizing  Geoffrey  Middleton,  a  con- 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  73 

nection  of  Lord  Dacre,  the  English  Warden,  on  his  return 
from  a  pilgrimage  to  St.  Ninian's  in  Galloway  ;  and  in 
spite  of  the  object  of  his  journey,  which  by  the  rules  of 
regular  warfare  ought  to  have  protected  him,  they  kept 
him  in  prison  till  Lord  Dacre  should  ransom  him  by  releas- 
ing Dick  Irvinfj.  Christie  Irving  of  Bonshaw,  Cuthbert 
Irving  of  Robgill,  the  Irvings  of  Pennersach,  Wat  Irving, 
and  Jeffrey  Irving  surrendered  to  the  English  in  1547  with 
290  retainers.     They  have  direct  male  descendants. 

Charteris  of  Amisfield  is  an  ancient  family,  of  which  the 
liead — the  Earl  of  Wemyss  and  March — has  now  passed 
out  of  Dumfriesshire.  The  first  of  the  name  came  to 
England  with  the  Conqueror,  and,  like  the  Riddels,  entered 
Scotland  with  David  I.  Robert  de  Charteris  acquired  the 
lands  of  Amisfield  prior  to  1175,  and  his  grandson  Thomas 
made  over  the  patronage  of  two  churches  in  Dumfriesshire 
to  the  Monastery  of  Kelso.  In  1517  John  Charteris  of 
Amisfield  was  "  caution  for  Ninian  Crichton  in  his  tutory 
to  Margaret  Crichton."  Another  Laird  of  Amisfield  (or 
Hempisfield)  acted  with  Sir  Alexander  Stewart  of  Garlies 
as  prolocutor  for  Sir  William  Maxwell  of  Gribton,  Barbara 
Johnstone,  his  wife,  and  Elizabeth  Stewart,  Barbara's 
mother,  the  widow  of  the  deceased  Laird  of  Newbie,  when 
they  were  tried  in  1605  for  violently  seizing  Newbie  Castle 
from  Robert  Johnstone ;  and  in  1637  John  Johnstone, 
called  of  Mylnefield  (Robert's  nephew),  twice  acted  as  sole 
witness  to  a  sasine  for  Sir  John  Charteris.  The  Lairds  of 
Amisfield  are  mentioned  in  most  public  transactions  in 
Dumfriesshire  in  the  16th  and  17th  centuries. 

The  family  of  Fitz-AUeyne  owned  lands  in  Nithsdale  long- 
before  any  of  them  ascended  the  Scottish  throne ;  but 
when  the  son  of  Walter,  High  Steward  of  Scotland,  after- 
wards   Robert    II.,    took    the    surname    of    Stuart,    they 


74  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

followed  his  example.*  The  Stewarts  of  Garlies  and  the 
Stuarts  of  Castlemilk  are  of  this  race.  Sir  Walter  Stewart 
of  Dalswinton  acquired  Garlies,  in  Kirkcudbright,  about 
the  time  of  Robert  Bruce,  and  his  direct  descendant,  Sir 
Alexander  Stewart,  was  created  Earl  of  Galloway  in  1623. 
The  Fergussons  of  Craigdarroch  are  also  an  ancient 
family.  The  first  charter  in  existence  of  their  estate  is 
dated  early  in  the  1-ttli  centuiy,  and  they  are  supposed  to 
have  possessed  it  for  many  years  previously.  Burns  refers 
to  them  in  these  words — 

Thy  line  that  have  struggled  for  freedom  with  Bruce, 
Shall  heroes  and  patriots  ever  produce. 

The  poet's  great  friend  to  whom  this  was  addressed  was 

Robert  Fergusson,  also  a  poet,  who  died  in  his  24th  year, 

in  1751.     Burns  wrote  the  inscription  on  his  monument  in 

the  Canongate  Churchyard,  in  Edinburgh — 

No  sculptured  niarlile  here,  nor  pompous  laj% 

No  storied  urn,  nor  animated  bust — 
This  simple  stone  directs  Pale  Scotia's  way 

To  pour  her  sorrows  o'er  her  poet's  dust. 

Comparatively  few  of  the  Dumfriesshire  landed  gentry 
descend  in  the  male  line  from  the  ancestors  who  owned 
their  property  in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  but  among 
them  appear  to  be  the  Hunters  of  Lagan,  who  received  the 
estate  from  Robert  Bruce.  They  are  now  represented  by 
Mr  Hunter-Arundell  of  Barjarg  Tower,  near  Dumfries. 
The  Hope-Johnstones  of  Annandale  descend  through  tv.'o 
females  from  the  first  Marquis.  The  Charterises  are  now 
Charteris  Douglas,  while  other  families  which  have  died 
out  in  the  male  branch  have  still  retained  the  ancient  name 
with  the  female  descent. 

The  Griersons  of  Lag  have  continued  in  the  male  line 
from   Gilbert,  second  son   of  Malcolm    Dominus    de    Mac- 

*  The  English  Stewards  claim  descent  from  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Bonkil. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


Gregor,  wlio  died  in  1374.  They  were  created  baronets  in 
tlie  17th  century,  and  intermarried  with  the  Maxwells, 
Charterises,  Kirkpatricks,  Fergussons,  and  Queensberry 
family.  Lag  Castle  stands  about  seven  miles  from 
Dumfries,  and,  like  Lochwood,  was  built  in  tlie  midst  of 
morasses  and  thick  woods.  Sir  Alexander  Gi'ierson  of 
Lag,  born  18-58,  is  the  head  of  this  ancient  family. 

The  Norman  family  of  Heris,  descended  from  the  Count 


LAG. 


de  Vendome,  came '  to  England  with  the  Conqueror,  and 
followed  David  I.  to  Scotland,  where  Robert  de  Heris  is 
called  Dominus  de  Nithsdale  in  a  charter  of  1323.  As 
Herries  of  Terregles  they  played  a  prominent  part  in  Scot- 
tish history,  and  finally  merged  into  the  Maxwells.  The 
title  of  Herries  was  created  in  1489  ;  and  the  family  of 
Constable  Maxwell,  Everingham  Park,  Co.  York,  estab- 
lished their  claim  to  it  throu2;h  female  descent  in  18o8. 
Tlie  present  Lord  Herries,  born  1837,  has  two  daughters. 


76  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES. 

The  Herries  family  owned  Hoddom  Castle,  where  they  are 
said  to  have  imprisoned  kidnapped  Englishmen  in  the  15th 
century,  but  in  1607  it  belonged  to  Samuel  Kirkpatrick, 
married  to  the  widow  of  Johnstone  of  Newbie.  It  was 
bought  about  1630  by  the  Sharps,  and  remained  with  tlieir 
descendants  till  the  present  day.  Charles  Kirkpatrick 
Sharpe,  the  celebrated  antiquarian,  whom  Sir  Walter  Scott 
called  the  Scottish  Horace  AValpole,  and  the  author  of 
several  poems  in  the  Border  Minstrelsy,  was  born  there  in 
1781,  and  died  in  Edinbui'gh  in  1851. 

The  Maitlands  of  Eccles  are  an  old  Scottish  house, 
descending  from  Eklis  or  Elsie,  a  knight  who  followed  tlie 
fortunes  of  Hugh  de  Morville  into  Dumfriesshire  in  the 
reign  of  David  I.  The  oifice  and  estates  of  the  Morvilles 
descended  to  the  M'Dowalls. 

The  Boswells  of  Auchinleck  are  described  as  minor 
barons  in  1549,  and  have  produced  eminent  advocates  and 
a  judge.  Perhaps  the  best  known  of  the  family  is  James 
Boswell,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Dr  Samuel  John- 
son, whose  life  he  publislied  in  1791. 

The  Clark-Kennedys  now  represent  the  family  of  the  old 
Celtic  Thanes  of  Carrick.  The  name  Dunwiddie  of  Apple- 
garth  often  occurs  in  history,  and  is  dei'ived  from  Alleyn 
Dinwithie,  whose  name  appears  in  the  Ragman's  Roll. 
The  Bells  of  Middlebie  and  of  Blacket  House,  in  the  parish 
of  Kirkpatrick-Fleming,  were  a  numerous  race,  and  their 
chiefs  surrendered  to  the  English  in  1547,  with  364  men. 
The  Romes  were  a  small  clan  living  under  the  protection 
of  the  Johnstones  in  Gretna,  in  the  16tli  century,  but 
subsequently  increased  their  fortunes  and  estates.  For  a 
time  they  possessed  the  Castle  of  Dalswinton,  which  was 
given  by  Robert  Bruce  to  his  son-in-law's  kinsman,  Sir 
Walter  Stewart. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


Qtieen  Margaret — Third  Douglas  Rebellion — Death  of  James 
III. — Scots  of  Bdcclehch  and  Branxholme — Battle  of 
Flodden — English  Invasion — Retaliation — Johnnie  Arm- 
strong— Quarrels  between  the  Maxwells  and  John- 
stones — The  Reformation — Plan  to  Kidnap  James  V. — 
Scots  Defeated — The  King's  Death — List  of  Prisoners — 
Maxwell  —  Another  English  Invasion  —  List  of  Border 
Chiefs  who  Surrendered  —  Outlaws  —  Queen  Mary's 
Letter — Cruel  Ravages — Peace. 

I  N  January,  1461,  Queen  INIargaret,  wife  of  the  deposed 
^  King  Henry  VI.  of  England,  came  with  her  son, 
Edward  Prince  of  Wales,  to  Dumfries  to  seek  allies  against 
her  husband's  rival,  the  Duke  of  York.  The  Queen  Mother 
of  Scotland  met  her  on  the  Borders,  and,  according  to  the 
chronicler  of  Auchinleck,  a  marriage  was  projected  between 
vouno-  Edward  and  an  infant  Scottish  Princess  ;  but  the 
Prince  perished  the  same  year  by  the  swoi"d  of  Richard, 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  after  the  battle  of  Tewkesbury, 
and  the  Royal  House  of  York  was  eventually  acknowledged 
by  James  III. 

The  second  Douglas  rebellion  was  hardly  crushed  in 
1484  when  a  third  broke  out  under  another  of  the 
Douglases,  Archibald  Earl  of  Angus.  Dumfriesshire  was 
again  the  scene  of  strife,  and  the  insurgent  lords  adopted 
the  cruel  expedient  of  bringing  the  young  James,  Prince  of 
Scotland,  into  the  field  against  his  father,  and  by  this 
means  drawing  many  who  would  otherwise  have  been  loyal 


78  THE   HISTOKICAL   FAMILIES 

or  neutral  under  the  rebel  standard.  At  the  battle  of 
Sauchieburn,  June  1488,  the  royal  troops  were  routed. 
James  III.  fled  wounded  from  the  field,  and  took  refuge  in 
a  cottage,  where  he  was  murdered  by  a  straggler  in  the 
guise  of  a  priest,  whom  the  frightened  owner  of  the  house 
had  brought  in,  as  slie  thought,  to  hear  the  confession  of 
the  dying  monarch.  Lord  Maxwell  had  been  nominally  on 
the  side  of  the  King,  yet  contrived  to  gain  the  favour  of 
his  opponents,  and  was  appointed  to  rule  Dumfriesshire 
with  Lord  Angus  till  the  Prince  of  Scotland  should  attain 
his  majority,  he  being  at  this  time  not  sixteen  years  of  age. 
Adam,  laird  of  Johnstone,  was  on  the  King's  side.  He 
was  first  cousin  to  Maxwell,  and  liad  married  a  Scot  of 
Branxholme  and  Buccleuch.  A  precept  of  sasine  from 
Patrick,  Earl  of  Bothwell,  in  1493,  "to  our  lovit,  xVdam  of 
Johnstone  of  that  Ilk  and  others,  charges  them  to  infeft 
"Walter  Scot  of  Buccleuch  in  the  lands  of  Roberthill,  in  the 
Stewartry  of  Annandale."  The  Scots,  whose  descendant, 
the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  had  a  rental  of  £79,000  from 
Dumfriesshire  ten  years  ago,  do  not  appear  to  have 
possessed  an  acre  of  land  there  befoi-e  1459.  Some  of  the 
elan  were  very  troublesome  a  little  later  to  the  public 
peace,  and  in  1514  joined  the  English  Warden  in  a  raid  on 
Dumfriesshire.  But  in  1569,  during  the  civil  war  between 
the  unfortunate  Queen  Mary  and  her  third  husband.  Both- 
well,  and  the  Protestant  party  under  the  Regent  and  infant 
James  VI.,  "  the  barons,  landit  men,  and  gentlemen, 
inhabitants  of  the  Sheriffdom  of  Berwick,  Roxburgh,  Sel- 
kirk, and  Peebles,"  signed  a  bond  to  support  the  young 
King.  It  was  dated  at  Kelso,  April  6,  headed  by  the 
name  of  Buccleuch,  Knt.,  and  followed  by  many  Scots, 
Kers,  Cranstanes,  Gledstanes,  and  others.  They  professed 
themselves  specially   enemies  to    all  persons  named   Arm- 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  79 

strong,  Elliot,  Nickson,  Little,  Beattie,  Thomson,  Irving, 
Bell,  Johnstone,  Glendinning,  Routlege,  Henderson,  and 
Scott  of  Ewisdale — in  fact,  of  those  families  who  had 
fought  on  the  side  of  the  Queen  at  Langholm.  Neverthe- 
less, the  same  year  a  decreet  sentenced  Sir  Walter  Scot 
of  Branxholme  to  arrest  and  confiscation  for  having  for- 
feited his  caution  ;  but  probably  this  stern  sentence  was 
never  carried  out,  as  at  that  time  and  much  later  the 
decreets  of  the  Edinburgh  Courts  were  little  more  than  a 
form  as  regarded  the  Border  gentry.  For  a  much  graver 
ofience  Jeff'rey  Irving  was  condemned  to  be  executed,  with- 
out effect.  The  Scots  of  Buccleuch  were  high  in  favour 
with  James  YI.,  and  were  raised  to  the  peerage  three  years 
after  the  union  of  the  two  Crowns.  At  that  period  many 
of  the  Cordons,  Scots,  and  Johnstones  entered  the  Dutch 
and  other  foreign  services,  for  when  peace  became  per- 
manent between  England  and  Scotland  the  land  on  the 
Borders  would  not  support  them  all,  and  they  were  unfitted 
for  civil  occupations.  Scot  of  Buccleuch  received  a  sum  of 
money  from  the  Prince  of  Orange,  whose  son  afterwards 
married  a  daughter  of  Charles  I.,  for  the  mosstroopers  and 
cattle-drivers  from  the  middle  marches  whom  he  despatched 
to  ficrht  as:ainst  Holland's  enemies. 

The  manner  in  which  the  Dumfries  chiefs  defied  the  law 
was  shewn  in  1509,  when  Lord  Crichton,  theSherifi",  held  an 
assize  in  Dumfries,  and  Lord  Maxwell,  the  Warden  of  the 
Borders,  on  account  of  some  private  feud,  came  with  a  body 
of  armed  men,  including  some  of  the  Johnstones,  and  what 
the  chroniclers  call  a  great  battle  was  fought  outside.  The 
young  Lairds  of  Dalziell  and  Crauchlay,  besides  Robert 
Crichton,  the  Sheriff's  near  relation  (himself  an  outlaw), 
were  killed.  Four  years  later  Maxwell  and  his  four 
Ijrothers  fell   at   the   battle  of  Flodden,   which  again  left 


80  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Scotland  with  a  boy-king  in  1513.  An  Irving  of  Bonshaw, 
Lord  Herries  of  Terregles,  with  his  brother  Andrew,  and 
many  Dumfries  gentlemen,  besides  their  followers,  were 
among  the  slain,  and  the  defeat  was  at  once  followed  up  by 
an  English  raid  into  the  county  under  Lord  Dacre,  who 
induced  some  of  the  Armstrongs,  Gx-ahames,  and  Scots  to 
join  him.  He  wrote  to  the  Privy  Council  that  lie  had 
almost  dej)opulated  Lower  Annandale  and  Eskdale,  that  he 
had  destroyed  400  ploughed  lands,  that  no  man  was  dwell- 
ing in  any  of  them  at  this  day,  save  only  in  the  towns  of 
Annan,  Steppel,  and  Wauchope,  and  that  he  means  to 
continue  his  forays  from  time  to  time,  to  the  utmost  annoy- 
ance of  the  Scots. 

It  is  not  surprising,  after  this  savage  treatment,  that  the 
ruined  and  jjrobably  half-starved  borderers  did  not  adhere 
very  strictly  to  the  treaty  between  England  and  France,  in 
which  Scotland  was  included,  in  1515.  The  Queen  Mother, 
sister  to  Henry  VIII. ,  had  married  the  young  Archibald, 
Earl  of  Angus,  very  soon  after  her  husband's  death  at 
Flodden,  so  the  Scottish  nobles,  jealous  of  his  elevation, 
deprived  her  of  the  government  for  her  son,  and  John, 
Duke  of  Albany,  first  cousin  to  James  IV.,  was  appointed 
regent.  Lord  Dacre  complained  that  he  at  once  discharged 
the  Border  ofiicers  put  in  by  the  Queen  and  re{)laced  them 
by  unfit  persons,  which  had  caused  great  disorder.  He 
said  that  nine  Englishmen  had  been  murdered  by  Scotsmen, 
and  great  robberies  and  burnings  committed,  for  which  no 
redress  can  be  obtained.  Albany  had  sent  Lord  Lindsay, 
the  Laird  of  Bass,  and  Sir  Wm.  Scot  to  the  Borders  to 
meet  the  English  Warden,  when  a  demand  was  made  of 
redress  for  the  murder  of  Robert  Dalgles,  his  son,  and 
David  Tate,  Scotsmen,  and  of  Henry  Milne,  Englishman  ; 
and,  though  one  of  the  murderers  was  present  in  sight  of 
the  Warden  and  Commissioners,  his  delivery  was  refused. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  81 

The  Warden  again  wrote  'to  Albany,  who  held  out  hopes 
of  redress,  but  immediately  afterwards  three  more  Dal- 
oiieshes  and  John  Oliver  Jackson  of  R-owcliff  were  killed 
by  the  young  laird  of  Gretna,  assisted  by  two  of  the  Irvings 
and  Peter  Grahame.  Again,  an  Englishman  was  killed  by 
two  of  the  Irvings,  and  two  Bells.  Tlie  Scotsmen  who 
were  among  the  murdered  had  all  assisted  the  English  in 
the  recent  foray  ;  so  probably  their  assassins  looked  upon 
it  as  a  just  retribution,  even  if  they  were  not  secretly 
instigated  by  the  Government. 

On  November  27,  1515,  Lord  Dacre  writes  that  the 
Warden  of  the  Scottish  Borders,  with  Lord  Carlyle,  Sir 
John  Murray  of  Cockpool,  the  Laii'd  of  Johnstone,  Symon 
Carruthers  of  Mouswald,  Sir  Alexander  Jardine  (comp- 
troller of  the  Duke  of  Albany's  house),  Carruthers  of 
Holmains,  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  William  Johnstone  of 
Gretna,  Dunwiddie,  the  Lairds  of  Knock,  Castlemilk, 
Kirkconnel,  Tinwald,  and  others,  came  to  Solam  Chapel  in 
England,  where  the  said  Warden  "  sent  forth  in  a  scrym- 
age  "  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  Captain  of  Lochmaben,  and 
others  to  the  number  of  400  horses  and  more.  They  came 
to  Arthuret  in  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  burnt  a  Grange 
and  a  whole  village  to  the  number  of  16  houses.  Return- 
ing to  Scotland  the  Warden  sent  forth  "  in  another  scrym- 
age  to  Sir  John  Murray,  Laird  of  Cockpool,  Sir  Alexander 
Jardine,  the  Laird  of  Mansfield,  Amisfield,  Tynewald,  the 
Provost  of  Dumfries,  and  others  to  the  number  of  700 
horsemen,  who  robbed  Bowness,  and  burnt  18  houses  with 
much  corn,  hay,  &c.,  assaulted  the  tower  and  barnekyn  for 
half  an  hour  and  returned." 

On  May  15,  1517,  Albany  gave  a  respite  "to  the  Arm- 
strongs, Tailors,  and  all  their  kinsmen,  friends,  servants, 

and  other  dependents  on  them  of  the  clan  Liddisdale,  now 

6 


82  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

dwelling  in  the  Debateable  Lands  and  Woods,  that  will 
deliver  to  the  governor  (Albany)  sufficient  pledges  to  remain 
for  good  rule  where  they  shall  be  assigned."  The  dis- 
turbed state  of  the  country  is  shown  by  the  numerous 
bonds  of  manrent,  as  they  were  termed,  or  agreements  for 
mutual  protection  entered  into  at  this  period.  Brothers 
formed  them  with  brothers,  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
being  an  outlaw  engaged  himself  in  this  way  to  Maxwell  in 
1528.  The  year  before  James  V.  declared  in  Parliament 
his  utter  ignorance  of  a  raid  that  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
had  lately  made  up  to  the  walls  of  Carlisle.  In  June, 
1528,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  and  Edward  JMaxwell,  the 
Warden's  brother,  burnt  houses  and  corn  fields  in  Annan- 
dale,  besides  some  of  the  Royal  woods  at  Drumscoi'e,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  and  of  similar  exploits  Lord  Maxwell, 
Lord  Bothwell,  Lord  Home,  Scot  of  Buccleuch,  Mark  Ker 
of  Fernihurst,  and  Johnstone  were  cited  before  the  Parlia- 
ment, which  held  its  session  in  the  Tolbooth  at  Edinburgh, 
May  16,  1529,  where  they  were  at  once  arrested,  and  shut 
up  in  the  Castle.  Leaving  them  there  the  King  set  out  on 
July  26  with  8000  men  to  Dumfriesshire.  He  billetted  a 
large  portion  of  these  troops  on  the  Deputy  Warden, 
Charteris  of  Amisfield,  because  he  had  taken  no  steps  to 
procure  the  release  of  a  youth  seized  near  Lochmaben  by  a 
party  of  Englishmen,  who  had  also  carried  off  two  cows,  the 
only  other  possession  of  his  widowed  mother ;  and  she  had 
made  her  way  on  foot  to  Stirling  to  lay  her  complaint  before 
the  King ;  but  if  report  spoke  truly  of  the  way  in  which 
James  obtained  possession  of  the  Laird  of  Gilnockie, 
Johnnie  Armstrong,  it  was  not  quite  so  creditable  to  him. 
This  rebel  had  only  three  years  before  met  Lord  Maxwell 
at  Dumfries  and  tendered  his  submission,  for  which  he  had 
obtained  a  grant  of  land  at  Langholm,  and  now  received 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  83 

an  autograph  letter  from  James  V.  asking  liim  to  meet  him 
near  Hawick,  and  promising  him  a  pardon.  Armstrong 
went  richly  attired  with  24  splendidly  accoutred  horsemen, 
at  sight  of  which  the  King  exclaimed,  "  What  wants  yon 
knave  that  a  king  should  have,"  and  ordered  them  all 
to  be  hung  on  the  neighbouring  trees.  Armstrong's  wife 
and  daughters  are  said  to  have  mistrusted  the  King's  letter, 
and  to  have  tried  to  induce  him  to  remain  'in  his  own 
strong  tower.  The  King  had  already  captured  Adam  Scot 
of  Tushielaw,  commonly  known  as  the  Prince  of  Thieves, 
and  had  him  promptly  hanged.  On  his  return  to  Edin- 
burgh, James  released  the  Border  chiefs,  and  Johnstone 
shortly  afterwards  gained  his  favour  by  capturing  George 
Scot  of  the  Bog,  a  freebooter  noted  for  his  cruelty,  whom 
the  King  ordered  to  be  burnt  alive.*  This  punishment 
seems  to  have  been  then  unknown  in  Scotland,  as  a  con- 
temporary chronicler  relates  that  everyone  was  astonished 
at  it.  These  executions  were  undoubtedly  in  consequence 
of  the  complicity  of  the  culprits  in  the  English  invasions, 
not  for  mere  brigandage  and  theft. 

In  spite  of  the  bond  of  manrent  between  the  lairds, 
Dacre  wrote  to  Cardinal  Wolsey  in  1528  that  "the  Debate- 
able  land  is  now  clear  waste,"  from  the  Maxwell  and 
Johnstone  feuds,  and  on  April  2,  1529,  he  says  "  the  Lord 
Maxwell  caused  the  Armstrongs  to  make  a  raid  upon  the 
Lord  of  Johnstone,  his  own  sister's  son,  who  is  at  deadly 
feud  with  them  for  the  killing  of  Mickle  Armstrong,  where 
they  killed  three  of  his  friends  and  the  Lord  Maxwell 
himself  lay  in  abushment  to  maintain  them,  purposely  to 
have  killed  the  said  Lord  of  Johnstone  if  he  had  pursued 
them."     Wharton,  who  succeeded  as  Warden  of  the  English 

*A  penalty,  with  previous  torture,  enforced  as  late  as  1789  in  Berlin 
and  Vienna. 


84  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Borders,  wrote  to  Henry  VIII.  in  1542  that  Lochinvar 
(Gordon)  and  the  Johnstones  are  the  greatest  enemies 
Maxwell  had,  owing  to  their  wish  to  supplant  him  in  the 
offices  he  held  as  Warden  of  the  East  and  West  Borders — 
one  in  Galloway,  and  the  other  in  Annandale. 

The  Johnstones  were  now  the  chief  proprietors  in  the 
part  of  Scotland  most  exposed  to  England.  The  Laird's 
estates  extended  northward  to  Moffat  and  beyond.  His 
brother  Adam  was  Baron  of  Corry.  Another  brother 
(James)  was  laird  of  Wamphray.  William  Johnstone  of 
Gretna  owned  the  barony  of  Newbie,  including  Stapleton, 
the  salt  works  of  Saltcoats,  Gretna,  and  the  fisheries  from 
the  Annan  to  the  Eden  ;  and  the  laird's  estates  intersected 
William's  in  Kirkpatrick-Fleming,  and  connected  William's 
properties  of  Stapleton  and  Newbie  by  Broomhills.  There 
were  also  Bells  and  Irvings  dependents  on  the  house  of 
Johnstone  and  Newbie  (it  is  stated  in  a  legal  process  of 
1611)  who  lived  in  the  barony  of  Newbie  without  paying 
any  dues,  doubtless  for  the  price  of  their  services  against 
invaders ;  so  that  as  the  Johnstones  formed  a  cordon  along 
the  frontier,  guarded  the  ford  over  the  Esk,  and  suffered 
the  most  from  English  raids,  they  considered  they  had  more 
claim  to  the  office  of  Warden  than  Maxwell,  whose  original 
property  lay  to  the  east  of  the  Lochar,  and  the  frontier  was 
never  better  guarded  than  when  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
held  the  post.  When  Maxwell  was  Warden  Ninian 
Crichton  of  Sanquhar  was  cited  before  a  Justiciary  Court 
for  not  giving  assistance,  and  he  answered  that  it  had 
never  been  the  duty  of  Sanquhar  to  protect  the  Borders. 
In  1540,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  and  Sir  Walter  Scott  of 
Branxholme  were  imprisoned  at  Dumbarton  through 
Maxwell's  influence,  but  released  on  parole  on  the  security 
of  Adam  Johnstone  of   Corry,  the  Laird's  brother.     Two 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  85 

years  before,  Johnstone's  estate  had  been  sequestrated  on 
the  occasion  of  a  second  visit  which  James  Y.  paid  to 
Dumfriesshire,  when  Maxwell  was  rewarded  with  the  con- 
fiscated Armstrong  estates  in  Eskdale.  Johnstone's  were 
not  restored  till  1542-3,  when  he  made  a  charter  of  resigna- 
tion in  favour  of  his  son. 

The  marriage  of  James  lY.  with  the  daughter  of  Henry 
YII.  had  not  produced  the  long  peace  which  was  expected 
between  the  two  countries,  and  Dumfriesshire  never  endured 
more  disasters  than  between  the  Battle  of  Flodden  and  the 
death  of  James  Y.  The  Reformation  was  also  beginning 
to  make  its  way  into  Scotland,  and  following  the  precedent 
of  other  countries  the  first  adherents  of  it  were  condemned 
to  the  stake.  William  Johnstone  was  one  of  the  Dumfries 
Commissionei's  for  trying  heretics.  August  26,  1534. 
James  Y.  had  been  favourably  disposed  towards  the 
Reformers  till  the  pressure  of  his  uncle  Henry  YIII.  to 
make  him  throw  off"  the  Papal  supremacy,  and  Henry's 
persecution  of  tlie  Romanists,  disinclined  him  to  them  ; 
and  from  this  time  "  the  Defender  of  the  Faith  "  evidently 
courted  a  war  with  Scotland.  In  1541  his  army  made  an 
inroad  into  Dumfriesshire,  and  several  Border  lairds  who 
hitherto  had  been  out  of  favour  with  James  were  rewarded 
for  their  valour  in  repelling  it.  William  Johnstone  of 
Gretna  and  Newbie  was  made  a  hereditaiy  Baron  for 
"good,  faithful,  and  gratuitous  service,"  and  his  lands 
entailed  on  his  heirs  male,  or,  in  default  of  heirs  male,  to 
heirs  of  his  own  name  bearing  the  arms  of  Johnstone. 
Jan.  2,  1542.  James  vainly  applied  to  Henry  YIII.  for 
an  indemnity  for  this  foray,  and  then  raised  an  array  of 
10,000  men  under  Lord  Huntly.  He  came  to  Dumfries  to 
inspect  his  troops,  and  Sir  Thomas  Wharton,  the  English 
Warden,  proposed  to  Henry  YIII.  that  as  his  nephew  had 


86  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

but  a  small  escort  he  should  be  seized  and  brought  across 
the  Border  just  as  260  years  later  the  Spanish  Princes  were 
seized  by  Napoleon.  The  King  was  highly  pleased  with 
the  idea,  but  -when  it  was  put  before  the  Privy  Council 
they  raised  these  objections  in  a  written  reply — "They 
should  have  feared,"  said  the  document,  "to  have  thought 
on  such  a  matter  touching  a  King's  person  had  not  their 
Royal  master  told  them  to  do  so.  But,  sir,"  it  continued, 
"  we  have  also  weighed  the  matter,  after  our  own  simple 
wits  and  judgments,  and  we  find  in  it  many  difiiculties. 
First,  the  Castle  of  Caerlaverock,  whereunto  he  resorts,  is 
twenty  miles  within  the  ground  of  Scotland.  We  consider 
also  that  the  country  between  that  and  England  is  so  well 
inhabited  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  convey  any  such 
number  of  men  to  the  place  where  he  should  be  intercepted, 
but  the  same  would  be  discovered.  We  consider  again 
that  Dumfries,  one  of  the  best  towns  in  Scotland,  is  in  that 
part  where  the  enterprise  should  be  done,  and  the  country 
so  inhabited  at  their  backs  that  it  would  be  hard  to  bring 
him  thence,  especially  alive."  It  referred  to  the  slander 
and  deadly  feud  which  would  accrue  if  the  plan  failed,  and 
advised  that  Wharton  should  let  no  creature  know  that  it 
had  ever  been  thought  of. 

Foiled  in  this  project,  Henry  despatched  an  army  of 
10,000  men  to  the  East  Marches,  and  the  banished  Earl  of 
Angus  and  his  brother  accompanied  it.  They  were  defeated 
by  Lord  Huntly  at  Haddon  Rig,  and  retaliated  by  burning 
Kelso  and  other  Border  towns,  but  James  checked  them  in 
person  at  Falamuir,  and  wished  to  follow  the  fugitives  into 
England  in  the  hope  of  capturing  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
their  commander,  who  when  Earl  of  Surrey  had  conquered 
James  IV.  at  Flodden.  But  the  Border  Lords  refused  to 
give  their  consent  to  this  movement,  and  their  withdrawal 
was  fatal  to  it.     They  would  defend  their  own  frontiers,  but 


AND   THE  BORDER    WARS.  87 

would  not  expend  the  blood  of  their  followers  in  a  brilliant 
feat  of  arms  to  add  lustre  to  a  sovereign  who  had  by  turns 
humiliated  them  all,  even  his  favourite  Maxwell.  Maxwell 
did  offer  to  collect  an  army  of  his  own  followers  in  Dum- 
friesshire, and  lead  them  on  to  Carlisle,  which  was  not  the 
untried  ground  to  them  that  a  march  from  the  East  Borders 
seemed  to  be ;  but  the  King,  angry  and  discontented, 
retired  to  Maxwell's  castle  at  Carlaverock,  and  while 
allowing  him  to  suppose  that  he  was  to  have  the  chief 
command  in  this  new  expedition,  secretly  bestowed  it  on 
Oliver  Sinclair,  a  gentleman  of  his  household,  who  first 
exhibited  his  commission  (according  to  Holinshed,  1576) 
when  the  army  was  in  face  of  the  English.  "  As  soon  as 
that  was  read,"  says  this  author,  "  the  Earls  and  Lords 
there  present  thought  themselves  debased  too  much  to  have 
such  a  mean  gentleman  advanced  in  autliority  above  them 
all,  and  determined  not  to  fight  under  such  a  captain,  but 
willingly  suffered  themselves  to  be  overcome,  so  were  taken 
by  the  English  without  slaughter  of  any  one  person  on 
either  side."  Sir  Thomas  Wharton  in  his  report  states  that 
twenty  Scotch  were  slain  and  some  drowned,  but  not  ten 
English  were  missing.  "There  be  taken  four  falconets  with 
three  of  J.  R.,  and  the  arms  of  Scotland  with  an  imperial 
crown  upon  every  one  of  them;  besides  some  hagbuts,  axes, 
and  handguns."  He  gives  this  list  of  "  Noblemen  and 
Gentlemen  of  Scotland  taken  prisoners  upon  Esk  and 
thereabouts,  by  the  King's  highness's  subjects,  on  Friday, 
November  24th." 

"  The   Earl  of    Cassillis,*   the   Earl  of  Glen  cairn.   Lord 

*  The  son  of  this  Earl  of  Cassillis  was  the  infamous  chief  who  half- 
roasted  the  lay  Abbot  of  Crossraguel  before  a  alow  fire  to  induce  him  to 
sign  away  the  abbey  lands  in  his  own  behalf,  a  property  which  the 
family  of  Kennedy  still  enjoyed  (and  probably  do  so  still)  iii  1832,  when 
Scott  borrowed  the  first  part  of  the  incident  for  his  scene  in  Ivanhoe 
between  Front-de-Bteuf  and  the  Jew  Isaac. 


88  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Maxwell,  Admiral  of  Scotland,  and  Warden  of  the  West 
Marches ;  Lord  Fleming  of  the  Council,  Lord  Somerville  of 
the  Council,  Lord  Oliphant,  Lord  Gray,  Oliver  Sinclair  of 
the  King's  Privy  Council,  and  three  of  his  brothers ;  John 
Ross,  Lord  of  Ci'aigie  and  Gentleman  Usher  of  the  King 
of  Scots'  Privy  Chamber ;  Robert  Erskine,  son  and  heir  of 
Lord  Erskine,  late  Ambassador ;  Seton,  son-in-law  to  Lord 
Erskine ;  George  Hume,  Laird  of  Hayton ;  Walter  Kerr, 
Laird  of  Gordon;  John  Charteris,  uncle  and  keeper  to  Lord 
Amisfield  in  his  minority  ;  David  Gordon,  bastard  uncle  to 
Lochinvar ;  Lord  Langton,  Lord  Monteith,  John  Maxwell, 
brother  to  Lord  Maxwell ;  and  Master  Johnstone,*  John 
Leslie  of  Fife,  bastard  son  to  the  Earl  of  Rothes;  John 
Maitland,  Laird  of  Aukincastle ;  Robert  Charteris,  the 
Lord  of  Amisfield's  brother ;  Master  David  Keith ;  John 
Melville,  James  Pringle,  chief  scorer  of  the  King's  goods, 
and  in  his  favor.  I  think  there  are  about  a  thousand 
prisoners,  whereof  two  hundred  be  gentlemen."  A  supple- 
mentary list  of  the  resources  of  the  prisoners,  gives  "  Lord 
Maxwell,  in  lands  per  annum,"  as  worth  "a  thousand 
marks,  sterling  (English),  and  in  goods,  £500,  which  is 
£2000  Scotch.  Henry  Maxwell,  his  brother,  in  lands  per 
annum  nothing,  in  goods  nothing."  Another  list  contains 
the  pledges  delivered  to  the  Earl  of  Cumberland  and  Sir 
Thomas  Wharton  at  Carlisle,  on  January  19th,  1543  ; 
which  corrects  a  previous  memorandum.  "  For  the  Earl  of 
Cassillis — Davie  and  Archibald  his  brothers,  having  no 
brother  called  Arthur  as  the  schedule  is ;  and  the  Laird 
of  Cove.  For  the  Laird  of  Glencarne — Alexander,  his 
eldest  son,  and  Robert,  another  son.  For  Lord  Fleming — 
James,    his   son  and   heir,   and  John   Fleming,   called  the 

*  This  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  not  the  Laird 
himself,  and  he  was  probably  the  sister's  son  of  Maxwell  referred  to 
elsewhere. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  89 

young  Laird  of  Roghall,  otherwise  called  the  Laird  How  in 
the  schedule,  with  a  Schoolmaster.  For  Lord  Somerville — 
James,  his  eldest  son,  and  Roger  Maitland,  his  brother-in- 
law.  For  Lord  Maxwell — -Robert  Maxwell,  his  son  and 
heir.  For  Lord  Oliphant — no  pledge  is  coming,  but  him- 
self remains."  The  same  is  said  of  Lord  Gray,  and  of 
Oliver  Sinclair  and  his  two  brothers.  Oliver  had  been 
captured  by  a  certain  Willie  Bell.  "  For  the  Laird  of 
Craigie — -Thomas  Ross,  his  eldest  son  ;  he  hath  no  such 
brother's  son  as  the  schedule  purports,  and  the  Nobleman 
saith  his  eldest  son  was  his  pledge.  For  Lord  Darcy — 
John  Monteith,  his  uncle's  son  and  heir  ;  he  has  no  eldest 
son  as  the  schedule  purports  ;  this  is  the  same  as  the 
Noblemen  said  was  appointed  for  his  pledge — t.c.  all  the 
said  Noblemen  of  their  honours  stand  bound  that  all 
prisoners  whose  pledges  entered  not  shall  truly  remain 
within  the  city  of  Carlisle  unto  such  time  as  further  orders 
shall  be  taken  with  them,"  t.c. 

The  King  at  Carlaverock  heard  of  the  rout  at  Solway 
Moss,  and  never  recovered  from  the  shock.  He  retired  to 
Falkland,  where  he  shut  himself  up,  and  would  see  no  one, 
till  the  news  arrived  that  the  Queen  had  given  birth  to  a 
daughter.  He  had  been  unfortunate  in  his  domestic  rela- 
tions, for  his  first  wife  had  died  within  a  year  of  their 
marriage,  and  his  second  wife  had  lost  two  sons  on  the 
same  day — James,  aged  a  year  and  a  half,  and  Arthur, 
aged  a  few  months  ;  and  this  infant  being  a  girl,  seemed  to 
complete  his  disappointments.  He  said  that  Henry  would 
now  certainly  try  to  obtain  Scotland  by  marriage  or  some 
other  means.  "  It  was  reported,"  says  Holinshed,  "  that 
he  was  disquieted  with  some  unkindly  medicine,  but  how- 
soever the  matter  was,  he  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  Almighty 
God   on  December  13th,   1542,"  at  the  age  of  thirty-two. 


90  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

The  Eaii  of  Arran,  his  cousin,  was  appointed  Regent  foi- 
the  infant  Queen. 

This  event  produced  a  change  on  the  Borders.  Henry 
would  not  accept  a  pledge  for  Lord  Maxwell,  who  was 
removed  with  the  principal  prisoners  to  Hampton  Court ; 
and  the  new  Governor  of  Scotland  at  once  restored  the 
Laird  of  Johnstone's  property.  Feb.  27,  154.3.  A  royal 
charter  dated  three  days  later  declares  that  the  Queen,  in 
consideration  of  the  good,  faithful,  and  gratuitous  service 
rendered  by  John  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk  on  the  Borders  of 
Scotland,  grants  to  him  in  free  tenement  or  life-rent,  and 
to  James  Johnstone,  his  son  and  heir  apparent,  and  his 
heirs  heritably,  all  the  lands  of  Johnstone,  &c.,  to  be  created 
and  incorporated  into  one  entire  and  free  Barony,  to  be 
called  and  comprehended  within  the  Barony  of  Johnstone. 
This  was  the  first  dignity  bestowed  on  the  direct  ancestor 
of  the  Marquises  of  Annandale  ;  and  was  granted  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  terms  as  the  Barony  of  Newbie  to  William 
Johnstone  the  previous  year. 

Directly  he  heard  of  his  nephew's  death,  Henry  VIII., 
as  James  had  anticipated,  began  to  think  of  marrying  his 
young  son  Edward  to  the  orphaned  Mary,  and  he  released 
the  imprisoned  Scottish  nobles  on  condition  that  they  would 
do  their  best  to  promote  it.  Finding  this  impossible,  they 
returned  to  captivity  ;  and  alarmed  by  a  threat  that  he 
would  be  transferred  to  the  Tower,  Maxwell  asked  to  be 
removed  instead  to  a  prison  at  Cai'lisle,  "  to  the  intent  that 
he  might  practise  on  his  son  and  his  sister's  son,  the  Laird 
of  Johnstone  "  {i.e.,  the  Laird's  eldest  son  James,  who  was 
imprisoned  there),  and  he  proposed  "  to  deliver  up  any 
castle  of  his  own  that  was  commodious  to  the  King  for 
entering  into  Scotland;"  but  Henry  also  required  the  Royal 
Castle  of  Lochmaben  to  give  him  a  permanent  hold  on 
Dumfriesshire. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


91 


Lord  Hertford,  writing  to  Paget,  July  29th,  1545, 
describes  Maxwell  as  worn  by  vexation  and  imprisonment, 
and  unable  to  drink,  eat,  or  sleep,  that  he  was  ready  to 
serve  as  a  red-cross  English  soldier  if  required  ;  but  in 
short,  that  if  once  shut  up  in  the  Tower,  he  knew  "  he 
should  never  return  on  leave."  While  negotiations  were 
o-oino-  on  for  the  surrender  of  Lochmaben  and  Carlaverock, 
the  Master  of  Maxwell,   Lord  Maxwell's  eldest   son,    was 


i.-'^itesSf^gC'^jSs^aji.-.liS*  \S'^'^-^^^l 


isi*. 


AMISFIELD. 

taken  prisoner,  and  the  second  son,  Jolm  (afterwards  Lord 
Herries),  refused  to  listen  to  any  treacherous  scheme. 
Wharton  wrote  to  Lord  Shrewsbury,  Feb.  14,  1545,  that 
he  had  placed  a  body  of  foot  and  a  troop  of  fifty  horse  in 
Langholm  Tower  (belonging  to  the  Armstrongs),  and  had 
long  used  one  of  Johnstone's  followers  as  an  emissary  to 
create  discord  between  Johnstone  and  Maxwell's  son.  A 
feud  had  broken  out  between  them  which  the  Scotch  Privy 
Council  could  not  allay.     He  had   offered   300  crowns  to 


92  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Johnstone  for  himself,  and  100  to  his  brother  the  Abbot  of 
Saulsyde,  and  100  to  Johnstone's  other  followers,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  Master  of  Maxwell  should  be  put  into  his 
power.  Johnstone  had  entered  into  the  plot,  but  "  he  and 
his  friends  were  all  so  false  "  that  Wharton  knew  "  not 
what  to  say."  But  he  would  "be  glad  to  annoy  and  entrap 
the  Master  of  Maxwell  or  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  to  the 
King's  Majesty's  honor  and  his  own  poor  honesty." 

The  Abbot  of  Saulsyde  was  a  Johnstone,  but  was  possibly 
not  brother  to  the  Laird,  for  the  English  Wardens  often 
confused  relationships  and  Christian  names,  when  they 
described  the  Border  families,  with  their  numerous  members 
bearing  the  same  surnames  ;  and  an  additional  difficulty 
was  caused  by  the  custom  of  giving  the  same  Christian 
name  occasionally  to  brothers.  In  the  Johnstone  family 
alone,  the  old  Laird  had  two  brothers  besides  himself  called 
John ;  he  had  two  sons  named  John  and  two  named  James ; 
and  William  of  Newbie  had  also  two  sons  named  John. 

Hertford,  in  a  letter  to  the  Privy  Council,  gives  Sir 
Thomas  Wharton's  opinion  as  to  the  ease  of  an  attack  on 
Carlaverock.  He  had  already  advised  the  burning  of 
Gi^etna  and  Redkirk,  and  his  description  of  the  country 
shows  how  much  it  had  suffered  since  the  foray  in  1536, 
and  since  the  capture  of  James  V.  had  been  discussed  in 
1541. 

"  He  saith  that  upon  the  West  Marches  of  Scotland,  the 
country  of  itself  being  wild  and  desolate,  there  is  no  exploit 
to  be  done  nearer  than  Dumfries,  except  to  make  a  raid  in 
to  overthrow  and  cast  down  a  certain  church  and  steeple, 
called  the  Steeple  of  Annan,  which  is  a  thing  of  little 
importance ;  and  to  go  to  Dumfries,  he  saith  the  country  is 
so  strong  by  nature,  and  the  passages  there  so  straight  and 
narrow,  that  he  thinketh  it  over  hard  and  dangerous  to  be 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  93 

tried  with  a  Warden's  rode.  The  "West  Marches  being 
barren,  and  already  wasted  by  the  continuance  of  wars,  &c." 
He  describes  the  swamps  surrounding  Carlaverock,  and  the 
difficulty  of  passing  them.  But  a  month  or  two  later  this 
was  overcome,  and  a  Scottish  diary  of  the  time  records 
(October  28,  1545)—"  The  Lord  Maxwell  delivereth  Car- 
laverock  to  the  English,  wliich  was  great  discomfort  to  the 
counti'y."  Three  days  afterwards  Carlaverock  was  sur- 
rounded by  Johnstone,  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  and  Gordon 
of  Lochinvar,  but  it  was  not  recaptured  till  May,  1546  ; 
and  in  the  meantime,  Lochmaben  and  Thrieve  had  been 
surrendered  to  the  English  by  the  Earl  of  Arran,  Regent 
of  Scotland,  who  pardoned  Maxwell's  treachery,  and 
restored  him  to  the  Wardenship.  Maxwell  died  July  9, 
1546,  having  bequeathed  one  important  legacy  to  his 
country  in  an  Act  he  introduced  into  Parliament  during 
his  short  release  on  parole  in  1543,  and  which  was  passed 
after  some  opposition — viz.,  to  "  make  it  lawful  for  all  our 
Sovereign  Lady's  lieges  to  possess  and  read  copies  of  the 
Bible  in  Scottish  or  English."  The  Act  may  be  said  to 
have  legally  introduced  the  Reformed  Faith  into  Scotland. 
Early  in  1547,  Johnstone,  Lochinvar,  and  the  Master  of 
Maxwell  made  a  raid  into  Cumberland,  but  the  next  month 
Sir  Thos.  Carleton  crossed  the  frontier — not  at  the  usual 
ford,  but  at  Canonby — and  pushed  on  to  Dumfries,  whence 
he  proclaimed  that  all  who  did  not  take  an  oath  of  allegi- 
ance to  the  King  of  England  should  be  pursued  with  fire 
and  sword.  Some  of  the  Lairds  of  Nithsdale  and  Galloway 
gave  pledges  of  fidelity  to  the  English.  He  states  that 
Canonby  was  now  far  from  the  enemy,  for  all  Annandale, 
Liddesdale,  and  a  great  part  of  Nithsdale  and  Galloway 
were  willing  to  submit,  except  the  Laird  of  Drumlanrig, 
who  never  submitted,  and  with  him  Alexander  Carlyle,  the 


94  THE  HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Laird  of  Briclekirk,  and  his  son  Adam,  the  young  Laird — 
so  he  tried  to  get  some  castle  wher-e  he  might  be  nearer  the 
enemy.  "  Sander  Armstrong  came  and  told  me  he  had  a 
man  called  John  Lynton,  who  was  born  in  the  head  of 
Annandale,  near  to  the  Loughwood,  being  the  Laird  John- 
stone's chief  house,  and  the  said  Laird  and  his  brotlier 
(being  the  Abbot  of  Saulside)  were  taken  prisoners  not 
long  before,  and  were  remaining  in  England.  It  was  a  fair 
large  tower,  able  to  lodge  all  our  company  safely,  with  a 
barne-kin  hall,  kitchen,  and  stables,  all  within  the  barne- 
kin,  and  was  but  kept  with  two  or  three  fellows  and  as 
many  wenches." 

This  garrison  was  easily  overpowered,  and  the  place  found 
to  be  well  stocked  with  salted  beef,  malt,  butter,  and  cheese. 
Carleton  put  Armsti-ong  in  the  tower  to  keep  it,  and  then 
proceeded  to  Moffat,  where  he  ordered  the  people  to  swear 
allegiance  to  Edward  VI.  The  treacherous  Armstrongs 
and  Fergus  Grahame  offered  to  show  him  the  i"oad  into 
Lanarkshire,  hitherto  untrodden  by  the  enemy,  "  for  at 
Crawford  and  Lamington  he  would  find  much  booty  and 
many  sheep."  He  burned  "Lamington  and  James  Douglas's 
castle,  where  the  men  and  cattle  were  all  devoured  with 
smoke  and  fire,"  and  then  returned  to  Loch  wood,  or  Lough- 
wood, an  isolated  tower  standing  on  a  hill  in  the  midst  of 
marshes,  which  could  only  be  crossed  by  strangers  with  a 
guide,  and  there  he  writes  in  his  own  narrative  of  these 
proceedings.  "  We  remained  very  quietly,  as  if  we  had 
been  at  home  in  our  own  houses." 

While  these  events  were  passing  in  Dumfriesshire  an 
English  army  was  ravaging  East  Lothian  and  Teviotdale, 
and,  encouraged  by  its  success  in  fire  and  slaughter,  Lord 
Lennox  and  Wharton,  who  had  been  ennobled,  crossed  tlie 
Esk,  Sept.    8,   1547,  to   subdue  the   South  of  Annandale, 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  95 

whicli  still  I'esisted  their  lieutenant.  They  halted  at 
Gretna,  and  marched  next  day  to  Castlemilk,  which  they 
reported  had  walls  14  feet  thick,  and  captured  it.  On 
Sept.  20  they  encamped  near  Annan,  and  summoned  Lyon, 
the  commander  of  the  Castle,  who  defended  it  with  100 
Scots,  to  surrender,  which  lie  refused.  The  Castle  was 
built  by  Robert  Bruce,  and  the  chapel  adjoining  it  was  the 
only  Church  in  Annan.  It  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  old 
graveyard,  where  all  that  remains  of  the  fortress  is  a  small 
heap  of  stones.  "  The  English,"  wrote  Holinshed,  "  brought 
their  artillery  to  bear  against  the  walls,  and  undermine 
them  with  powder,  so  that  the  roof  of  the  church  was 
shaken  down  and  many  of  those  within  crushed  to  death. 
At  last  the  Captain,  moved  by  the  Earl  of  Lennox,  to 
whom  he  claimed  to  be  of  kin,  rendered  the  steeple  unto 
him,  with  himself  and  96  Scottish  soldiers,  with  condition 
to  have  their  lives  saved,  and  the  captain  to  go  a  prisoner 
to  England.  Immediately  they  came  forth  of  the  steeple, 
fire  was  set  to  the  mines,  and  both  church  and  steeple 
blown  up  into  the  air  and  razed  to  the  ground.  This 
done,  they  sacked  and  burnt  the  town,  and  left  not  a  stone 
standing,  for  it  had  ever  been  a  right  noisome  neighbour 
to  England.  The  Englishmen  had  conceived  such  spite  to 
it  that  if  they  saw  but  a  piece  of  timlier  remaining  unburnt, 
they  would  cut  the  same  in  pieces.  The  country  herewith 
was  stricken  in  such  fear  that  the  next  day  all  the  Kil- 
patricks,  and  the  Jardines,  the  Lairds  of  Kirkmichael, 
Aplegirth,  Closeburn,  Howmendes,  Nuby,*  and  the  Irre- 
wings,  the  Belles,  the  Rigges,  the  Murrays,  and  all  the 
clans  and  the  surnames  of  the  nether  part  of  Annandale, 

*  Holinshed  is  usually  very  accurate.  Except  as  Nuby,  whom  he 
evidently  toq^  to  represent  the  clan,  he  mentions  no  Johnstones, 
though  they  ^tined  the  most  numerous  portion. 


96  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

came  and  received  an  oath  of  obeisance  as  subjects  to  the 
King  of  England,  delivering  pledges  for  their  assured 
loyalty."  The  invaders  were  again  assisted  by  "  Richie 
Grahame,"  and  by  some  of  the  Armstrongs,  Beatties, 
Thomsons,  Littles,  and  other  Border  stragglers  who  were 
not  dependent  on  any  special  chief. 

In  Bell's  MS.,  preserved  in  the  Carlisle  Cathedral 
Library,  there  is  a  list  of  chiefs  and  their  men  who  sur- 
rendered on  this  occasion  to  the  English.  It  differs  slightly 
from  the  two  lists  preserved  among  the  State  papers  of 
Edward  VI.,  as  do  those  two  lists  from  each  other,  both  as 
to  names  and  the  number  of  followers.  In  one  the  Laird 
of  Wamphray  is  omitted,  and  the  Gretna  Johnstones 
mentioned  twice.  In  the  other  Lord  Carlile  is  mentioned 
twice  with  a  different  number  of  followers,  but  this  sort  of 
error  occurs  in  all  report  of  battles.  The  Laird  of  John- 
stone and  his  son  were  both  prisoners ;  but  "  "William 
Johnstone,  brother  to  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  and  his  three 
brothers  and  those  under  them,"  are  mentioned  with  235 
men.  Robert  Johnstone,  the  laird's  second  son,  is  men- 
tioned in  one  list,  but  not  in  that  now  quoted — "  George 
Johnstone,  the  Laird  of  Newbie,  and  those  under  him." 
This  was  the  legitimized  son  of  William  Johnstone  of 
Newbie,  who  succeeded  to  Gretna  on  his  father's  death. 
He  had  37  men.  "  The  Laird  of  Gretna,"  who  may  have 
been  William's  legitimate  son  John,  who  inherited  Newbie, 
and  those  under  him,  82,  and  Johnstones  of  Gretna,  to  the 
number  of  11,  had  some  time  before  served  the  English, 
probably  by  compulsion.  Besides  these,  there  was  Sir 
John  Lawson,  chaplain  to  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  with  32 
men ;  the  Johnstones  of  Lockerbie,  of  the  Bank,  and 
Foulduris,  with  280  men  ;  and  Gawin  Johnstone  of  Elsie- 
schellis,  with  38.     The  Laird  of  Gillisbe,  with  72  men ;  55 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  97 

Jardines  and  Moffats,  104  Belles  of  Middlebie,  60  Nicksons, 
Hunters,  and  Glendinnings,  25  Carlyles,  80  Elliotts  and 
Simpsons ;  the  Armstrongs  of  Liddisdail,  1 1  Grahames, 
and  304  Beatties,  Littles,  and  Thomsons — had  all  served 
the  English  ;  some  above  a  year,  some  more  than  three 
years.  The  remaining  names  which  surrendered  on  the 
capture  of  Annan  were  Christie  Irving  of  Bonshaw,  with 
103  men  ;  his  nephew  Christie,  with  74  ;  Richie  and  Wat 
Irving,  with  149.  The  Romes  of  Tordotfe,  with  26.  The 
Johnstones  of  Craigeburn,  Malinshaw,  Cottes,  and  Dris- 
daill,  with  306.  The  Belles  of  Middlebie,  Kirkconnel,  The 
Kirk,  &G.,  with  302.  Kirkpatrick  of  Closeburn,  with  378; 
Grierson  of  Lag,  with  360 ;  the  Laird  of  Kirkmichel,  with 
123  ;  and  the  Laird  Ross,  with  86  ;  the  Laird  of  Cassilis, 
with  39  ;  Edward  Maxwell  of  Tinwald,  with  81  ;  the 
Jardines,  with  341  ;  John  Maxwell  of  Brackenside  and  his 
brother,  with  139  ;  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  with  111  ; 
Jeftrey  Irving  of  Robgill,  with  81  ;  the  Laird  of  Dun- 
weddie,  Patrick  Murray,  the  Vicar  of  Caerlaverock,  and 
others — the  total  amounting  to  about  6000  men.* 

At  the  next  session  of  Parliament  in  Edinburgh,  June 
12,  1584,  the  Lords  declared  the  following  chiefs,  who  had 
taken  an  oath  on  this  occasion,  to  be  guilty  of  high  treason, 
and  therefore   outlawed  : — "  Willia  Kirkpatrick   of  Kirk- 

*  Henry  VIII.  was  now  dead,  and  Lord  Wharton  wrote  to  the  Lord 
Protector — "  I  have  despatched  both  my  sons,  my  son-in-law,  Mr  Mus- 
grave,  and  other  gentlemen  with  light  horsemen  to  make  a  foray 
in  Nithsdale,  near  Dumfries,  and  the  part  of  Annandale  not  yet  won. 
They  have  bvirnt  nine  or  ten  towns,  and  brought  away  prisoners  and 
spoil  of  goods  with  no  hurt.  Since  I  last  wrote  500  lairds  and  gentlemen 
have  come  in,  and  I  have  in  all  2400  Scottish  horse.  ...  I  have 
removed  Laird  Johnston  from  Carlisle  to  my  house  at  Wharton.  All 
his.men  have  refused  him  ;  his  own  brothers  and  others  have  taken  oath 
and  given  hostages  for  their  service.  They  are  a  great  band  of  proper 
men,  and  do  good  service.  .  .  .  Laird  Johnston  is  a  good  example 
upon  these  marches,  for  when  his  house  was  won  and  all  his  goods 
taken  he  requested  to  be  sworn  in  the  King's  service." 

7 


98  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

inichael  ;  John  Jardine  of  Aplegirth  ;  Jolm  Carruthers  of 

Holmends  (he  is  mentioned  in  Bell's  MS.)  ; of  Ros  ; 

the  Lairds  of  Knock,  of  Granton,  and  of  Gillisbie  ;  Grahame 

of  Thornick  ;   Gawyne  of  Johnstoun  ; of  Kirktown  ; 

Jhonstoun   of    Craigeburn ;    James  Jhonstoun   of    Cottis  ; 

of  Newbie  ;     Michael  Loi'd   Carlyle  ;    Carruthers  of 

Mouswald  (mentioned   in    one  of   the    two  official    lists)  ; 

Cuthbert  (it  was  Jeffrey)  Irving  of  Robgill  ; of  Cow- 

quhate  ;  Cuthbert  Johnstoun  of  Lockerbie  ;  James,  some- 
time Abbot  of  Saulsyde  ;  and  Tweedie  of  Drumnelzear." 

The  capture  of  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  with  similar  acts 
of  violence  produced  the  following  letter,  written  in  the 
young  Queen's  name  to  Henry  YIIL,  May  17th,  1547,  not 
a  month  before  the  tyrant's  end  : — 

"  Right  excellent,  right  high  and  mighty  prince,  our 
dearest  brother  and  cousin,  we  in  our  most  hearty  manner 
recommend  us  unto  you.  Our  dearest  cousin  and  governor 
James,  Earl  of  Arran,  protector  and  governor  of  our  realm, 
being  lately  advertised  how  our  well  beloved  clerk,  Master 
John  Hay,  sent  to  the  most  Christian  King  of  France  to 
perform  such  business  as  was  committed  unto  him,  and  the 
Abbot  of  Dry  burgh,  who  was  passing  to  the  ports  of  France 
in  his  own  affairs,  was  not  only  invaded  and  taken  on  the 
sea  by  your  ships  and  men  of  war,  but  are  also  holden 
within  your  realm  as  prisoners  notwithstanding  the  compre- 
hension in  the  peace  taken  by  the  most  Christian  King  for 
we  our  realm  and  subjects  of  abstinence  of  war  in  both  our 
realms  openly  proclaimed  to  stand  betwixt  the  same  and  as 
yet  undischarged.  Also  our  said  dearest  cousin  and  tutor 
is  advertised  how  your  subjects  have  lately  by  open  foray 
invaded  our  realm  upon  the  West  Borders,  at  the  parts  of 
Annandale,  and  there  has  taken  the  Laii'd  of  Johnstone  on 
his  own  ground  for  defence  of  his  lands  and  goods.     The 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  99 

which  unjust  attempts  are  not  only  against  the  comprehen- 
sion and  abstinence  foresaid,  but  also  most  unnaturally 
enterprised  against  us  and  our  lieges  without  any  respect 
unto  the  proximity  and  tenderness  of  our  blood,  and  mutual 
friendship,  that  should  continue  between  us  and  our  realms. 
Therefore  we  pray  you,  our  dearest  brother  and  cousin,  in 
our  most  effective  manner  to  put  the  said  Abbot  of  Dry- 
burgh,  Master  John  Hay,  Lord  Johnstone,  and  others  taken 
with  them  to  liberty  and  freedom,  so  that  they  may  without 
any  impediment  from  any  of  your  subjects  freely  pass  for- 
ward to  the  realm  of  France,  or  if  it  please  them  to  return 
again  within  our  realm,  and  it  will  please  you  give  credence 
unto  our  trusty  counsellor  Sir  Adam  Otterburne,  our  am- 
bassador in  this  behalf,  t.c.  We  pray  Almighty  God  to 
give  you  good  and  long  life.  Given  at  our  Castle  of  Stir- 
ling, and  subscribed  by  our  dearest  cousin,  tutor  and 
governor  at  Edinburgh,  May  17th,  and  of  our  reign  the 
5th." 

Henry  seems  to  have  become  as  anxious  to  annex  Scot- 
land before  his  death  as  his  predecessor  Edward  I.;  and  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  was  committed  to  the  Tower,  and  his  son 
beheaded,  for  their  ill  success  at  Fala  Muir.  The  accession 
of  Edward  VI.  was  the  signal  for  a  still  more  determined 
and  exterminating  warfare  than  had  already  been  carried 
on  ;  and  the  letter  just  given  was  followed  up  by  the  Battle 
of  Pinkie  and  Wharton's  ravages  in  Annandale.  The  Laird 
of  Johnstone  languished  in  prison  at  Pontefract  Castle ; 
and  is  described  in  the  list  of  distinguished  captures  as  "a 
gentleman  of  one  hundred  marks  sterling  or  above,  for 
whom  the  King's  Majesty  has  paid  one  hundred  marks  in 
part  payment  for  ransom  to  his  taker  ;  the  Laird  of  Close- 
burn,  worth  £100  sterling  and  more,  for  whom  his  cousin 
Thomas  Kirkpatrick  was  pledge  ;  the  Laird  of  Cockpool,  a 


100  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

gentleman  of  £100  lands  sterling  or  thereabouts,  himself 
remains  with  Sir  William  Ingleby  ;  and  Cuthbert  Murray, 
worth  little  or  nothing." 

The  official  list  of  the  towns,  monasteries,  castles,  villages, 
mills,  and  hospitals  destroyed  by  the  English  in  1547  is 
given  as  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  fills  ten  closely 
written  pages  of  a  State  paper  still  preserved  in  the  London 
Record  Office. 

Graitney,  Sark,  Cavartholme,  Blacket  House,  Ryehill 
Castle,  and  all  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  English  frontier 
are  included,  and  Dumfriesshire  was  nominally  subject  to 
the  King  of  England  for  a  year  and  a  half.  But  in  the 
meantime  the  King  of  France  sent  a  contingent  to  assist 
his  Scotch  allies,  and  hearing  of  this  expected  aid,  the 
Privy  Council  gave  orders  to  Wharton  to  execute  some  of 
the  pledges  at  Carlisle,  which  was  done,  and  among  others 
who  perished  was  the  Warden  of  Grey  Friars  at  Dumfries 
and  the  Vicar  of  Carlaverock,  the  last  being  pledge  for 
Maxwell,  and  his  near  relation. 

Considering  the  unprovoked  nature  of  the  war  and  the 
English  excesses,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  when  fortune 
turned  in  favour  of  the  Scots,  they  retaliated  with  equal 
ferocity.  The  Chevalier  Beaujeu,  a  French  officer  who 
served  with  them,  and  had  been  in  Muscovy,  so  was  enured 
to  horrors,  says  that  the  English  cruelties  round  Jedburgh 
"  would  have  made  to  tremble  the  most  savage  Moor  in 
Africa,"  and  he  gives  a  ghastly  description  of  the  vengeance 
which  the  Scotch  wreaked  on  their  unhappy  prisoners, 
"  I  cannot,"  he  adds,  "  greatly  praise  the  Scotch  for  this 
practice,  but  the  English  tyrannised  over  the  Borders  in  a 
most  barbarous  manner,  and  I  think  it  was  but  fair  to  pay 
them  in  their  own  coin."  The  English,  to  counteract  the 
French    support,    brought  over   a    band    of   Germans  and 


AND  THE  BORDER  WARS.  101 

Italians,  and  a  Spanish  corps  ;  and  the  actual  peril  in  which 
the  young  Queen  of  Scotland  was  placed  by  the  advance  of 
the  enemy  upon  Edinburgh,  which  was  burnt,  induced  the 
Regent  to  send  her  to  Fi-ance  in  1548,  where  she  was 
educated  and  eventually  married  to  the  Dauphin  Francis, 
who  was  henceforward  in  legal  documents  always  styled 
King  of  Scotland.  An  attack  of  the  French  King  upon 
Dunkirk  and  Calais,  then  belonging  to  England,  compelled 
the  English  forces  to  withdraw  from  the  south  of  Scotland, 
and  a  peace  was  finally  arranged  in  1551.  This  provided 
that  the  debateable  land  between  the  Esk  and  the  Sark 
should  lie  waste  and  belong  to  neither  kingdom,  but  by  a 
supplementary  article  in  1552  it  was  divided;  the  upper 
half  being  adjudged  to  Scotland  and  the  eastern  part  to 
England.  The  treaty  is  signed  by  John  Johnstone  of  that 
Ilk ;  John  Johnstone  of  Nitove  (1) ;  Charles  Murray  of 
Cockpool,  and  others.  The  younger  Laird  of  Johnstone 
was  dead ;  and  it  is  a  proof  of  the  severity  of  a  prison  life 
at  that  period  that  few  of  the  Scotch  captives  seem  long  to 
have  survived  their  release.  His  widow,  Mai'garet  Hamil- 
ton, was  married  in  1552  to  David  Douglas  of  Coldbrand- 
speth. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

Lord    Herries— Both  well— The    Armstrongs — The    Reforma- 
tion—Acts    AGAINST    the     RoMANISTS— QuEEN    MaRY    ViSITS 

Dumfries— Civil  War— The  Regent's  Progress— Another 
English  Invasion— The  Gladstones— Younger  Sons— Men 
OF  Annan. 

ONE  article  o£  the  Treaty  of  Peace  in   1551   provided 
that  there  should  be  no  marriages  between  natives  of 
the  Borders  of  England  and  those  of  Scotland ;   that  no 
Borderer  should  pass  from  his  own  country  to  the  other 
without  a  safe  conduct ;  that  no  Scottish  Borderer  should 
ever  sleep  a  night  in  Carlisle,  and  that  there  should  be  no 
trade  between  them.     The  object  was  to  prevent  quarrels 
which    might  lead  to  war.     But  the  long  hostilities  had 
completely  impoverished  the  south  of  Scotland,  and  stripped 
it  of  cattle,  and  the  starving  Borderers  had  more  tempta- 
tion    than     before     to    pillage    their    richer     neighbours. 
While  the  treaty  for  the  division  of  the  Debateable  Land 
was  pending,  Wharton  writes  that  "  the  Lord  Maxwell  and 
Lord  Johnstone,  with  400  horsemen  and  a  power  of  Scot- 
land for    2000   men,   came   to  the  Debateable  Land,   but 
returned  without   doing  harm,    save  that  the   Frenchmen 
burned  a  thatched  cote  house."     He  would  not  require  a 
bond  from  the  Warden  of  Scotland  lest  he  should  seem  to 
acknowledge  the  Scotch  authority  over  that  district.     John 
Maxwell  was  now  Warden  of  the  Scottish  Borders.     He  is 
better  known  as  Lord  Herries,  a  title  he  obtained  by  his 
marriage  with  a  cousin,   the  heiress  of  Terregles,  and  he 


THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES.  103 

resigned  the  office  three  years  later  on  account  of  "  clivers 
feuds "  with  some  of  the  most  notable  families  in  these 
parts.  The  Book  of  Complaints,  a  MS.  preserved  in  the 
Cathedral  Library  at  Carlisle,  contains  the  names  of  400 
offenders,  who  at  different  times  made  plundering  forays 
into  England.  They  probably  extended  over  thirty  or 
forty  years,  and  included  "  Richie  Grahame,  younger  of 
Netherby,"  many  Bells,  Grahames,  several  Johnstones, 
Gordons,  Elliots,  and  other  Border  names ;  the  young 
Laird  of  Graitney,  Gordon  of  Graitney  Hill,  Edward 
Irving  of  Graitney  Hill,  David  Johnstone  of  Robgill,  &c., 
&c.,  who  were  specially  reported  to  the  Warden  and 
Bishop  of  Carlisle  ;  and  were  liable  to  be  hung  with  little 
ceremony  if  captured.  On  the  East  Borders  many  of  the 
chiefs,  even  those  who  had  taken  an  oath  to  the  King  of 
England,  were  compensated  for  their  losses  after  the  war 
with  the  honour  of  knighthood,  as  the  Lairds  of  Cessford, 
Fernihurst,  Grenehead,  Buccleuch,  and  others  ;  but  this 
dignity  was  conferred  very  sparingly  in  Dumfriesshire, 
though  some  of  the  chiefs  had  left  that  county  rather  than 
surrender  to  the  English,  and  had  lent  their  swords  to 
resist  the  invaders  in  East  Lothian  and  Edinburgh. 

In  1455  a  Royal  statute  had  commanded  that  200  spear- 
men and  as  many  archers  should  be  maintained  upon  the 
East  and  Middle  Marches  of  Scotland  for  their  defence, 
and  100  spearmen  and  100  archers  upon  the  West  Borders  ; 
also  that  "  they  who  are  near  the  Border  are  ordained  to 
have  good  households  and  armed  men  as  offers,  and  to  be 
ready  at  their  principal  place,  and  to  pass  with  the 
Wardens  when  and  where  they  shall  be  charged  ;"  but  at 
the  first  Parliament,  which  met  at  Edinburgh  after  the 
peace  of  1551,  it  was  proposed  that  an  annual  tax  should 
be  levied  instead  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  up  a  larger 


104  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

standing  army.  This  was  opposed  by  about  200  of  the 
smaller  Border  chiefs,  who  assembled  together  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  sent  the  Lairds  of  Calder  and  Wemyss  to 
protest  against  any  taxation,  for  they  "  would  defend  the 
realm  as  their  forefathers  had  done,"  but  had  no  money. 
They  were  soon  put  to  the  proof,  for  in  1557  an  English 
army  crossed  the  Borders  of  Scotland  so  suddenly  that 
Lord  Maxwell  and  other  Scotch  commissioners  were  still 
at  Carlisle  trying  to  arrange  that  peace  should  continue 
with  England,  in  spite  of  a  war  which  had  just  broken  out 
between  the  English  Queen  Mary,  on  behalf  of  her  husband 
Philip's  dominions,  and  their  French  ally.  Both  well,  after- 
wards husband  to  the  Scottish  Queen,  was  Lord  of  Liddes- 
dale,  and  though  on  this  occasion  he  was  thrice  defeated 
by  the  Armstrongs,  he  is  said  to  have  had  more  success 
against  the  English  regular  troops.  As  a  Border  chief  he 
was  courageous  and  humane.  The  principal  leader  among 
the  Armstrongs,  Sandie  or  Sander,  who  had  acted  as  guide 
to  the  invaders  in  the  last  war,  declared  to  the  English 
Warden  in  1550  that  he  "  must  become  a  Scotsman,"  if  he 
was  not  protected  against  Lord  Maxwell  ;  but  in  1557 
Christopher  Armstrong  signed  a  bond  of  man-rent  to  "John 
Lord  Maxwell,  and  Sir  John  Maxwell  of  Terregles  (i.e., 
Lord  Herries),  Knt.,  his  tutor  and  governor,"  in  return  for 
the  gift  "  of  the  males  of  all  and  haill  the  lands  which  are 
contained  in  a  bond  made  by  the  late  John  Armstrong,  my 
father,  to  the  late  Robert,  Lord  Maxwell,  gudsire  (grand- 
father) to  the  said  John,  now  Lord  Maxwell."  This  John 
Armstrong  was  the  chief  summoned  to  pay  homage  to 
James  Y.  in  1529,  and  who  on  appearing  with  24  followers 
to  meet  the  King  during  his  passage  to  Dumfriesshire  was 
taken  and  hung,  a  treacherous  act,  which  disaffected  all 
the  Armstrongs  towards  the  House  of  Stuart.     An  English 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  105 

Cumberland  MS.  of  the  16th  century  says  that  they  were 
very  troublesome  to  England,  but  tolerated  because  at  any 
time  they  could  produce  three  hundred  or  four  hundred 
men  to  oppose  the  Scots.  Christopher's  son  Willie  lived  to 
equal  his  grandfather's  fame  as  a  thief.  James  VI.  made 
an  expedition  into  Dumfriesshire  in  1587  on  purpose  to 
capture  him,  but  failed;  and  in  1596,  when  he  was  taken 
by  the  English  and  shut  up  in  Carlisle  Castle,  Sir  Walter 
Scot  of  Buccleuch  led  a  party  armed  with  ladders  and 
other  appliances  from  Sark  or  Morton,  ten  miles  distant, 
scaled  the  walls  of  the  fortress,  and  rescued  him.  The 
same  year,  some  difficulty  having  arisen  between  the  King 
and  his  Edinburgh  subjects,  thei-e  was  a  report  that  he 
meant  to  let  loose  Kinmont  Willie  (as  Armstrong  was 
called)  and  his  followers  upon  the  city.  Immediately  the 
shops  were  emptied  and  the  wares  placed  in  the  strongest 
house  in  the  town,  while  the  owners  armed  and  stood 
ready  to  defend  them,  for  ten  years  previously  Buccleuch 
and  Lord  Home  had  led  such  a  party  into  Stirling,  and 
before  they  left  it  not  even  an  iron  grating  remained  upon 
any  of  the  windows. 

Peace  was  concluded  between  England  and  Scotland  in 
1559,  and  the  young  Queen,  now  a  widow,  returned  from 
France  two  years  later  in  the  midst  of  the  distractions 
caused  by  the  Reformers  and  their  opponents.  A  Refor- 
mation was,  indeed,  needed  in  Scotland,  where  the  King's 
illegitimate  son  had  been  made  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews 
when  a  few  months  old,  and  the  revenues  of  abbeys  and 
churches  were  bestowed  on  coui't  favourites  and  sold  to 
laymen  as  a  provision  for  their  younger  sons.  John  John- 
stone, Laird  of  Newbie  (1565-76),  bought  the  living  of 
Dornock,  and  seems  to  have  inherited  the  living  of  Kirk- 
patrick-Fleming.     He  bequeathed  the  last  to  his  second  son 


106  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Robert,  who  was  a  married  layman  and  adhered  to  Roman- 
ism ;  and  in  March  1595  there  is  a  decreet  in  the  Register 
of  the  Privy  Council  against  James  Johnstone  of  Dunskellie 
(the  Laird),  Robert  Johnstone,*  Laird  of  Newbie,  and 
Charles  Murray  of  Cockpool,  for  having  their  children 
baptised  by  a  Jesuit  priest.  The  towns  of  Dumfries  and 
Sanquhar  welcomed  the  Reformation,  and  Lord  Herries 
had  early  ranged  himself  on  that  side,  even  joining  Murray 
in  opposing  the  Queen's  unfortunate  marriage  with  Darnley 
in  1565,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  prejudicial  to  the  Pro- 
testant interests.  But  his  devotion  to  Queen  Mary,  who 
gave  him  the  title  of  Herries  on  the  baptism  of  her  son 
James,  made  him  revert  to  the  support  of  the  Roman  party 
when  it  became  a  question  of  Mary  and  her  enemies  as 
much  as  of  religion  ;  and  the  Border  families  long  adhered 
to  Romanism. 

Among  the  records  of  Criminal  Trials  for  1572  at 
Dumfries,  June  26th,  appears  that  of  "John  Johnstone, 
commonly  called  Sir  John  Johnstone,  commendator  (i.e., 
Abbot)  of  Saulsyde,"  convicted  of  celebrating  mass  "  after 
the  Papistical  manner."  Symon  Johnstone  and  John 
Johnstone  of  Kellobank  were  his  securities.  The  same 
Abbot  had  been  found  guilty  of  fire-raising  two  years 
earlier,  and  laying  waste  the  house  and  lands  of  Robert 
Johnstone  of  Craigaburn. 

On  the  20th  of  August,  1563,  Queen  Mary  visited 
Dumfries  for  the  first  time,  and  passed  a  night  under  Lord 
Herries's  roof.  She  came  again  with  her  second  husband, 
Henry  Darnley,  in  1565,  from  Edinburgh,  halting  a  night 
at  Lanark  and  Crawford  on  their  road.  Two  years  later 
she  was  consigned  a  prisoner  to  Lochleven  Castle  suspected, 
probably  unjustly,  of  having  been  accessory  to  her  husband's 
*  He  was  uncle  to  the  Laird. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  107 

murder.  As  to  the  charge  of  having  married  Bothwell, 
Lord  of  Liddesdale,  one  of  his  murderers,  she  is  believed  to 
have  been  influenced  in  so  doing  by  fear.  Her  infant  son 
was  placed  on  the  throne,  with  her  half-brother  James, 
Earl  of  Murray,  as  Regent,*  who  had  throughout  been  her 
secret  enemy.  On  September  8th,  1567,  an  Act  was 
passed  by  the  Parliament  summoning  certain  chiefs  in 
Dumfriesshire  to  appear  at  Edinburgh,  and  consult  on  a 
mode  of  pacifying  the  Borders,  which  were  much  agitated 
in  favour  of  the  deposed  Queen.  "  Forasmuch  as  on  our 
Sovereign  Lord's  coronation,"  it  ran,  "and  acceptation  of 
the  ofiice  of  Regent  of  the  realm  by  his  dearest  relation, 
James,  Earl  of  Murray,  &c.,  &c.,  he  charges  and  ordains 
Patrick,  Bishop  of  Wigton,  William  Gordon,  Alexander 
Gordon,  John  Gordon,  Maxwell,  Lord  Carlyle,  Thomas 
Kirkpatrick,  Charles  Murray  of  Cockpool,  and  John 
Johnstone  of  that  Ilk  to  appear  in  person  at  Edin- 
burgh," &c.  But  the  Queen's  escape  the  next  year 
set  the  whole  Borders  in  a  flame,  and  her  army 
of  nearly  600  men  was  chiefly  collected  from  Galloway, 
Annandale,  Nithsdale,  and  Liddesdale.  Many  of  the 
Dumfriesshire  chiefs  signed  a  bond  to  support  her  cause, 
among  them  Hay,  Lord  Yester,  Maxwell,  Herries,  Edward 
Maxwell,  Abbot  of  Dundrennan,  Crichton,  and  the  Lairds 
of  Ros,  Seaton,  Somerville,  Johnstone,  and  Lochinvar ; 
while  Drumlanrig,  Lord  Home,  Glencairne,  Lindsay,  the 
Earl  of  Morton,  and  many  more,  took  the  part  of  the 
Regent.  The  rival  forces  met  at  Langside,  two  miles  from 
Glasgow,  where  the  Queen's  troops  sustained  a  decisive 
defeat.  May  IStli,  and  escaping  on  horseback,  through 
Crawford,    Sanquhai*,    and    Dumfries,   to    Dundrennan    in 

*  Ftmr  illegitimate  brothers  accompanied  Mary  fron;  France,  all  of 
whom  were  hostile  to  her. 


108  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Galloway,  she  adopted  the  fatal  resolution  of  crossing  over 
to  England  to  ask  for  protection  from  Queen  Elizabeth. 

Three  weeks  later  the  Regent  Murray  followed  up  his 
victory  by  an  armed  progress  through  Dumfriesshire  to 
restore  order,  and  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  from  the 
chiefs.  At  Crawford,  in  Lanarkshire,  the  castle  sur- 
rendered, for  its  owner  Sir  James  Hamilton  (Johnstone's 
uncle)  had  been  captured  at  Langside.  Sanquhar  also 
surrendered  and  was  spared,  as  Lord  Crichton  promised  to 
repair  to  Edinbui'gh  within  a  given  time.  Gordon  of 
Lochinvar  was  more  obdurate,  and  two  of  his  castles  were 
burnt  down  ;  and  on  the  1 8th  of  June,  the  Regent  marched 
to  Dumfries,  and  taking  possession  of  a  large  house  belong- 
ing to  Lord  Maxwell,  stayed  there  all  the  next  day,  expect- 
ing the  owner  to  do  homage  to  him.  Maxwell  had  been 
there  the  preceding  morning,  with  the  Laird  of  Johnstone, 
Maxwell  of  Cowhill,  and  Lochinvar,  and  a  thousand  of 
their  men,  and  they  had  cleared  tlie  town  of  provisions  ; 
but  he  never  presented  himself  to  the  Regent,  and  it  was 
supposed  that  his  colleagues  restrained  him  from  doing  so. 
Several  of  the  Maxwells,  Irvings,  Grahames,  and  Bells, 
came  and  offered  their  homage,  and  John  Johnstone,  the 
Laird  of  Newbie,  gave  a  pledge  for  the  fidelity  of  all  the 
Johnstones,  consequently  the  Regent  abstained  from  burn- 
ing the  two  castles  of  the  Laird  of  Johnstone — Lochwood 
Tower  and  Lochouse  Tower — which  he  occupied  on  his 
return.*  On  June  20th,  he  marched  to  Hoddom  Castle 
belonging  to  Lord  Herries,  near  which  he  encountered  a 
band  of  1000  outlaws,  a  few  of  whom  he  captured. 
Hoddom  yielded  the  next  day,  when  the  Laird  of  Drum- 
lanrig  was  placed  in  it  and  reappointed  Warden  of  the 
Marches,  a  post  he  had  held  since  1553.      "  Gi-eat  hunger," 

*  Holinshed's  History  of  Scotland.     State  Papers. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


109 


writes  Holinshed,  "  began  to  pinch  in  the  army.  A  pint  of 
wine  was  sold  at  seven  shillings  Scots,  and  no  bread  to  be 
had  for  any  money."  Annan  capitulated  on  being  invested 
with  1000  men,  and  the  Regent  had  an  interview  there 
with  Lord  Scrope,  the  English  Warden  of  the  Marches. 
Lochmaben  was  also  taken  from  the  Maxwells,  and  near 
Lochwood  the  army  seized  on  a  large  quantity  of  cattle.  On 
the  24rth  June  it  arrived  at  Peebles,  and  the  following  day 


*-  .rtsr. 


TERREGLES. 


^0S,,Si^-<-^i.J '.  :r^a^ 


at  Edinburgh ;  but  bands  of  outlaws  still  continued  to 
harass  the  country  under  pretence  of  fighting  for  the  Queen. 
In  the  Register  of  the  Privy  Council  for  October,  1569,  a 
list  is  given  of  these  depredators,  whom  their  chiefs  were 
bound  over  to  arrest  or  keep  in  check.  Under  the  head  of 
Will  Bell  of  Gretno  we  read  "  the  which  day  JoJm  John- 
stone of  Gretno  (or  Graitney)  obliges  himself  that  Will 
Bell  of  Gretno  shall  be  punished  for  disobedience  of  the 


110  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

laws."  John  Johnstone  of  Graitney  also  pledges  himself 
for  the  good  conduct  of  the  Irvings,  and  the  Laird  of 
Johnstone  and  John  Johnstone  of  Newbie  pledged  them- 
selves for  the  good  conduct  of  the  gang  of  Fairholm. 

On  hearing  of  Queen  Mary's  flight  to  England  through 
the  assistance  of  Lord  Herries,  the  Regent  immediately 
caused  him  to  be  proclaimed  an  outlaw.  Herries  wrote 
from  Dumfries,  September,  1568,  to  the  English  Privy 
Council  to  intercede  on  behalf  of  his  unhappy  sovereign, 
and  a  month  later  went  to  London  to  try  and  obtain  a 
personal  interview  with  Elizabeth.  Failing  in  this  he 
visited  France  to  plead  for  Queen  Mary  with  her  brother- 
in-law,  Henry  III.,  and  encouraged  by  the  assassination  of 
the  Regent  Murray  in  1569,  tried  to  organise  another 
military  movement  in  her  favour  on  his  return.  To  put 
this  down,  and  to  avert  an  incursion  of  the  Borderers  into 
England,  Queen  Elizabeth  sent  an  army  under  Lord  Scrope 
to  ravage  the  Border  estates  of  those  Lairds  and  Noblemen 
particularly  attached  to  Maiy's  cause,  and  her  orders  were 
barbarously  carried  out. 

Scrope  reported  from  Carlisle,  April  21st,  1570,  that  he 
had  encamped  at  Ecclefechan,  and  sent  Musgrave  to  burn 
Hoddom  Maynes  (i.e.,  Newbie  Mains),  Trailtrow,  Ryuth- 
well,  Calpole,  Blackshaw,  Sherrington,  Bankend,  Lochar, 
and  Old  Cockpool ;  that  at  the  last  place,  in  an  encounter 
with  Lord"  Maxwell,  he  had  taken  100  prisoners,  including 
the  Alderman  of  Dumfries  and  16  Burgesses,  but  had  after- 
wards been  driven  back  by  Lords  Maxwell  and  Carlyle, 
and  by  Charteris,  Grierson,  Kirkpatrick,  and  Carruthers. 
At  Cummertrees  he  had  another  battle  with  them,  when 
he  captured  several  Lairds  ;  Maxwell,  Carlyle,  Johnstone, 
and  other  chiefs  only  escaping  "  by  the  strength  of  the 
Laird  of  Cockpool's  house,  and  a  great  wood  and  morass." 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS.  Ill 

He  had  been  ordered  to  spare  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig's 
tenants,  but  they  opposed  him  as  fiercely  as  the  rest. 
Another  of  Scrope's  lieutenants,  Lord  Sussex,  wrote  to  the 
Secretary,  Cecil,  that  he  had  thrown  down  the  Castle  at 
Annan,  and  had  not  left  a  stone  house  standing  in  that 
town,  which  was  an  ''  ill  neighbour  to  Carlisle."  The 
insurgents  are  described  by  Buchanan  as  Highlanders  and 
Borderers,  the  Laird  of  Fairniherst,  the  Johnstones  and 
Armstrongs,  the  Grants  and  the  Clan  Chattan,  besides  the 
Maxwells  ;  but  Drumlanrig  and  his  son-in-law,  Jardine  of 
Applegirth,  remained  attached  to  the  young  King.  He 
accuses  the  Borderers  of  "  misorder  and  cruelty,  not  only 
usit  in  war,  but  detestable  to  all  barbarous  and  wild 
Tartars,  in  slaying  of  prisoners,  and  contrary  to  all 
humanity  and  justice,  keeping  no  promise  to  miserable 
captives."  After  the  whole  of  Scotland  had  been  agitated 
for  more  than  two  years,  and  a  pestilence  had  broken  out, 
the  insurrection  was  finally  suppressed,  and  the  English 
retired  from  Dumfriesshire. 

As  before  stated,  the  Lairds  of  Teviotdale  signed  a  bond 
at  Kelso,  under  the  auspices  of  Scot  of  Buccleuch,  in  144^ 
to  support  the  infant  King  James  VI.  against  the  Queen's 
adherents  in  Dumfriesshire.  Consequently  they  escaped 
the  English  ravages.  James  Gledstanes  of  Cocklaw  was 
one  of  those  who  signed  it ;  and  Gladstaue  of  Gladstane 
took  part  in  the  skirmish  called  the  Raid  of  Redswire  in 
1575  under  a  Scot.  Though  the  headquarters  of  this 
family  were  in  Lanarkshire  and  Peebles,  they  are  early 
found  in  Dumfriesshire,  and  Herbert  de  Gledstanes  of  that 
county  signed  the  Ragman's  Roll  in  1296.  In  1455 
Herbert  de  Gledstanes  of  that  Ilk  and  Homer  de  Gled- 
stanes were  deputy-sherifis  of  Dumfriesshire  under  Lord 
Maxwell,  the  Warden  of  the  Borders,  and  from  the  uncom- 


112  THE    HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

uion  name  of  Homer  being  found  at  that  time  in  the 
Maxwell  family  there  may  have  been  some  family  con- 
nection between  the  Maxwells  and  Gledstanes.  In  1517 
and  in  1543  Herbert  Gledstanes  was  one  of  the  bailies  of 
the  town  of  Dumfries.  In  1579  William  Gledstanes,  son 
of  this  Herbert,  was  a  bailie,  and  the  records  of  Dumfries 
show  that  he  had  two  brothers  also  burgesses  of  the  same 
town,  viz.,  John  and  James  Gledstanes,  the  first  of  whom 
was  returned  heir  to  their  father  in  1564.  Herbert,  probably 
another  brother,  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  Dumfries 
in  1572,  but  was  a  bailie  of  Kirkcudbright  at  that  date. 
The  familiar  name  of  Catherine  Gledstanes  is  also  found  in 
the]  burgh  books  of  that  period,  as  the  wife  of  Adam 
Paterson  and  Walter  Gledstanes  of  Craggis  appears  in  the 
Dumfries  bui-gh  books  of  1575.  James  Gledstanes  left  an 
only  daughter,  who  married  Robert  Mackynell,  but  his 
brother  left  sons,  and  a  Herbert  Gledstanes  appears  again 
among  the  bailies  of  Dumfries  in  1622.  Sir  James  Gled- 
stanes is  mentioned  in  1578.  He  was  probably  in  Holy 
Orders,  as  the  term  Sir  was  generally  applied  to  priests. 

The  old  bard,  Scot  of  Satchells,  describes  the  establish- 
ment of  his  chief,  Scot  of  Buccleuch,  at  Branxholm  in  the 
early  part  of  the  17th  century.  Possibly  he  enlarged  as 
much  on  facts  as  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  done  on  his 
description — 

No  baron  was  better  served  in  Britain  ; 

The  barons  of  Buckleugh  they  kept  their  call, 

Four  and  twentj'  gentlemen  in  their  hall, 

All  being  of  his  na.me  and  kin  ; 

Each  two  had  a  servant  to  wait  upon  them. 

But  he  explains  in  prose  that  although  23  of  these  gentle- 
men bore  the  name  of  Scot,  the  other  was  Walter 
Gledstanes,  a  near  cousin  of  my  lord's. 

As  late  as  1619,  there  is  an  action  brought  against  James 
Johnstone,  brother's  son  to  the  Laird  of  Westraw  (ancestor 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  113 

to  Sir  Frederick  Johnstone),  for  having  robbed  his  master, 
in  which  he  is  described  as  household  man  and  servitor  to 
Irving  of  Wisbie.  It  was  thought  no  degradation  for 
the  younger  sons  of  a  laird's  family  to  act  as  serving 
men  in  another  house.  The  mercantile  class  in  Scotland 
was  chiefly  drawn  from  that  source,  for  the  prejudice 
against  entering  into  trade  which  we  still  find  among  the 
landed  gentry  in  Germany  and  some  other  countries  never 
seems  to  have  existed  here.  The  will  of  John  Johnstone, 
merchant,  brother  to  the  late  James  Johnstone,  Laird  of 
Westraw,  is  proved  on  June  4,  1576,  and  several  of  the 
Johnstones  of  Newbie  and  of  that  Ilk,  of  the  Maxwells, 
Kirkpatricks,  and  other  Dumfriesshire  families  were 
merchants.  A  relationship  with  a  provincial  cliief  was 
extremely  useful  in  early  days,  as  it  ensured  a  safe  conduct 
through  any  district  in  which  his  authority  was  respected  ; 
and  the  merchant  living  in  a  town,  probably  a  seaport,  and 
with  more  education  than  his  country  cousin,  was  a  very  use- 
ful relative  for  a  laird  to  possess.  The  Gladstones  therefore 
followed  the  prevalent  custom  when  their  junior  branches 
migrated  into  towns  and  set  up  in  business,  as  they  grew 
too  numerous  for  the  hereditary  land  to  support. 

The  names  of  all  the  men  in  the  burgh  of  Annan,  on 
September  9,  1591,  are  given  in  a  bond  of  man-rent  with 
Lord  Maxwell.  When  the  Annandale  Peerage  claims  were 
last  heard,  an  advocate  pleaded  that  Johnstone  was  at  that 
date  the  commonest  name  in  Annandale  among  all  classes. 
But  in  this  list  of  nearly  100  names  only  two  Johnstones 
appear,  and  both  of  them  connected  with  the  Newbie 
family,  and  in  all  the  deeds  I  have  collected  at  that  period 
whatever  Johnstones  are  named  were  related  in  a  left- 
handed  way  or  otherwise  to  tlie  chiefs  of  the  house. 
These  men  of  Annan  were  Littles,  Tods,   Wilkins,   Hairs, 

8 


114  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES. 

Irvings,  Veilds,  Halidays,  Louche  (probably  Losh,  still  a 
Cumberland  name,  or  Loch,  for  in  1603  Robert  Loch  was 
a  bailie  of  Annan,  and  collector  of  His  Majesty's  revenues), 
Wilsons,  Raes,  Vauche  (Welsh"?),  Menzies,  Rigs,  Blacks, 
Richardsons,  Potts,  Galloways,  Carliles,  Millars,  Bournans, 
Gasks,  Hutcliins,  Palmers,  Bells,  Whites,  Tyndings,  Robe- 
sons,  Grahams,  Smyths,  Warriors,  Corbets,  Mikes,  Hegis, 
and  two  John  Johnstones.  David  Millar  was  notary 
public. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Sir  James  Douglas — The  Lairds  of  Johnstone  and  Newbie — 
A  Border  Chief's  Will  ^  The  Lairds  of  the  West 
Marches— Civil  Feuds — Battle  of  Dryfe  Sands — Respite 
—  Queen  Mary  and  Her  Friends — Her  Death — Qoeen 
Elizabeth's  Letter — Romanists  and  Protestants-  Scot- 
tish Soldiers  of  Fortune — List  of  Lairds  and  Gentry — 
Letters  from  James  VI.  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone. 

5IR  JAMES  DOUGLAS  of  Drumlanrig,  who  succeeded 
Lord  Herries  as  "Warden  of  the  Borders  in  1553, 
I'etained  it  and  his  allegiance  to  the  Ministry  in  power  till 
his  death  in  1578,  notwithstanding  a  near  relationsliip  to 
Lord  Maxwell  and  Gordon  of  Lochinvar,  and  a  family  con- 
nection with  the  other  leading  insurgents.  In  1564  he 
obtained  a  charter  of  the  Barony  of  Mouswald  from 
marriage  or  exchange  with  one  of  the  heiresses  of  Simon 
Carruthers.  His  eldest  daughter  was  married  to  Charteris 
of  Amisfield,  a  second  to  Edward,  Lord  Crichton  of 
Sanquhar,  a  third  to  Grierson  of  Lag,  a  fourth  to  James 
Tweedie  of  Drumelzier,  a  fifth  to  Alexander  Stewart  of 
Garlies,  and  a  sixth  to  John  Jardine  of  Applegirth  ;  and 
his  son  William  married  to  his  cousin,  the  daughter  of 
Lochinvar.  At  this  period  nearly  all  the  chief  families 
were  related  to  each  other.  The  eldest  son  of  Lord 
Maxwell*  (who  died  in  1546),  like  his  father,  had  been  a 
prisoner  in  England.     He  did  not  survive  his  release  many 

*  The  superiority  of  Maxwell  to  the  other  Border  chiefs  is  shown  by  a 
deed  in  which  he  asked  the  pardon  of  Robert  Dalziell  for  having  killed 
his  father. 


116  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

years,  but  having  married  Lady  Beatrice  Douglas,  left  a 
posthumous  son,  Robert,  to  inherit  his  honours  in  1552, 
under  the  guardianship  of  Lord  Herries,  often  called  the 
master  of  Maxwell,  being  the  heir-presumptive  to  the 
title. 

The  old  Laird  of  Johnstone  died  Nov.  8,  1567,  leaving  a 
grandson,  John,  who  the  next  year  was  engaged  at  Lang- 
side  on  the  part  of  the  Queen.  His  daughters  were  married 
to  John  Maitland  of  Auchencastle,  to  Adam  Grahame,  to 
a  Carruthers  of  Mouswald,  and  to  Christopher  Irving  of 
Bonshaw  (a  valiant  soldier,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  English),  and  his  granddaughter  Janet  was 
married  to  the  eldest  son  of  Lord  Carlyle.  His  will,*  made 
in  1562,  left  Lord  Herries  joint  executor  with  his  widow, 
and  also  desired  his  heir  to  be  guided  by  the  counsels  of 
Lord  Herries  and  the  Lairds  of  Drumlanrig  and  Elphin- 
stone.  He  bequeathed  his  horse,  hart,  sword,  and  dogs  to 
Lord  Herries.  His  younger  son  John  was  imprisoned  in 
Edinburgh  Castle  in  1564,  at  "the  instance  of  John 
Douglas  of  Raecleuch,  for  not  desisting  and  ceasing  from 
the  lands  of  Raecleuch,"  but  was  released  on  bail  a  few 
montlis  afterwards,  his  securities  being  John  Johnstone, 
commendator  of  Salsit,  and  James  Johnstone,  burgess  of 
Edinburgh. 

Adam  Johnstone  of  Corry,  another  brother,  was  dead  in 
October,  1544,  leaving  a  son,  James.  William  Johnstone 
of  Newbie  and  Graitney  was  dead  in  1565.  His  eldest 
leaitimate  son  John,  Baron  of  Newbie,  married  Marion 
Carruthers,  and  another  son  became  Laird  of  Cummertrees. 
William,  heir  of  Newbie,  married  a  relation  of  Lord  Max- 

*  A  codicil  to  this  will  was  the  subject  of  a  long  lawsuit  by  his  heir 
against  his  widow  and  youngest  son.  Nicholas  Douglas,  the  widow, 
pleaded  that  he  was  a  very  old  man,  and  could  no  longer  write,  so  she 
had  signed  it  for  him. 


AND   THE  BORDER  WARS.  117 

well,  tlie  daughter  of  John  Maxwell  of  Brackenside  or  of 
Hills,  and  died  before  his  father,  leaving  a  young  son,  Jolin. 
In  1574  a  dispute  had  arisen  between  several  of  the  Laird  of 
Johnstone's  followers  and  the  young  Lord  Maxwell,  which 
extended  to  both  chiefs,  for  both  aspired  to  the  Wardenry 
of  the  West  Marches,  which  Sir  James  Douglas  of  Drum- 
lanrig  had  virtually  resigned  from  age  and  infirmity,  though 
no  other  was  appointed  till  after  his  death.  The  Earl  of 
Morton,  also  a  Douglas,  who  became  Regent  in  1572, 
desired  the  two  families  to  refer  their  difficulties  to  the 
Lords  in  Council,  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  and  Lord 
Maxwell  each  appointed  certain  noblemen  and  friends  to 
represent  them  in  Edinburgh,  any  four,  three,  or  two  on 
each  side  being  empowered  to  act  for  all.  Maxwell  selected 
his  own  relations  and  kinsmen.  Johnstone  also  nominated 
relations  and  connections — John  Johnstone  of  JSTewbie,  the 
Earl  of  Eothes,  Sir  James  Balfour,  Sir  James  Hamilton, 
"William  Livingstone  of  Jerviswood,  Thomas  Johnstone  of 
Craighopburne,  Robert  Douglas  of  Cassehogil,  Walter  Scott 
of  Guildlauds,  and  Walter  Scot  of  Tuschelaw.  The  deputies 
were  to  meet  at  Edinburgh  on  the  next  Feb.  15th,  both 
parties  promising  to  kee[)  good  rule  in  the  country  during 
their  absence.  John  Johnstone  of  Newbie  died  in  Edin- 
burgh, Feb.  1577  ;  but  the  dispute  seems  to  have  been 
settled  to  the  advantage  of  his  cliief,  who  the  following 
year  was  made  Warden  of  the  Borders  and  knighted,  an 
honour  enjoyed  by  some  of  his  ancestors.  He  also  came 
forward  as  a  candidate,  though  unsuccessfully,  for  the  office 
of  Provost  of  Dumfries,  which  had  hitherto  been  held  by 
the  members  or  friends  of  the  Maxwell  family.  His 
audacity  in  contesting  it  gave  additional  displeasure  to  Lord 
Maxwell,  who  prevented  him  and  his  followers  from  enter- 
ing the  town  with  an  armed  force.     A  family  feud  of  old 


118  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

standing  was  revived,  till  Maxwell  having  quarrelled  with 
the  King's  favourite  (Lord  Arran)  was  declared  an  outlaw 
by  James  VI.,  on  the  ground  that  he  protected  the  i-obber 
Armstrongs.     Johnstone,  in  his  capacity  of  Warden,  was 
ordered    to   pursue    and    arrest   him,   and    two    bands    of 
soldiers  under  William  Baillie  of  Lamington  and  Captain 
Cranstown  were  sent  to   assist   him.     The    soldiers    were 
defeated    at    Crawfordmuir    by     Maxwell's     half-brother 
Robert,  and  as  the  Johnstones  were  a  much  smaller  clan 
than  Lord  Maxwell's,  whose  cadets  were  now  established 
in  all  parts  of  Dumfriesshire,  they  were  also  dispersed,  and 
Lochwood   Tower  besieged  and  bui'ned  ;   Robert  Maxwell 
observing   as   he  watched  the  flames  that  he  would  give 
Lady  Johnstone  light  to  set  her  hood.     Among  other  losses 
the  ancient  family  deeds  were  destroyed.     Johnstone  again 
attacked   his   rival,   but   was   taken   prisoner,   and  tliough 
released  in  little  more  than  a  year,  when  a  compromise  was 
made  by  the  King  with  his  rebel  subject,  he  died  very  soon 
afterwards — it  is  said  from  shame  and  grief  at  his  defeat — 
1586.     Maxwell,  with  Scot  of  Buccleuch  and  a  company  of 
Nithsdale  men,  besides  Beatties,  Littles,  and  Armstrongs, 
and  340  from  Lower  Annandale,  marched  upon  Stirling, 
and  effected  their  purpose  of  deposing  the  favourite  Arran, 
who  was  deprived  of  his  title  and  estates,  and  of  obtaining 
from    the  Parliament  a  full   amnesty   for  themselves   and 
their   allies.     Those   from   Lower   Annandale  consisted  of 
Bells,   Carrutherses,   and  Irvings,   and  a  troop  of  cavalry 
furnished  by  George  Carruthers  of  Holmains  and  Charles 
Carruthers,  his  son.     The  tenants  of  the  Newbie,  Graitney, 
and  Cummertrees  estates,  of  course,  followed  their  chief. 

After  the  death  of  Johnstone,  Maxwell  was  appointed 
Warden  of  the  Marches,  and  formed  a  bond  of  alliance  with 
the  young  James,   Laird  of  Johnstone,  when  he  married 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  119 

Sarah  Maxwell,  the  granddaugliter  of  the  celebrated  Lord 
Herries,  who  had  died  in  1582.  One  of  Johnstone's  sisters 
was  also  married  to  Sir  Robert  Maxwell  of  Orchardstone ; 
so  that  for  some  years  there  was  peace  between  the  two 
families.  The  young  Laird  of  Newbie  was  married  to  a 
daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Stewart  of  Garlies  (son-in-law  to 
Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  the  late  Warden  of  the  Marches), 
and  lived  chiefly  in  Edinburgh ;  but  five  of  liis  uncles 
represented  the  Newbie  Johnstones  in  Dumfriesshire. 

The  will  of  his  grandfather,  John,  Laird  of  Newbie, 
shows  the  extent  of  their  lands.  "  The  Testament  and 
inventory  of  the  gudes,  geir,  soumes  of  money,  and  debts 
pertaining  to  the  late  John  Johnstone  of  Newby,  within 
the  Sheriffdom  of  Dumfries  the  time  of  his  decease,  who 
died  on  the  10th  day  of  February,  the  year  of  God,  1577, 
faithfully  made  and  given  up  by  Marioun  Carruthers,  his 
relict,  whom  he  nominated  his  only  executor  in  his  latter 
will  underwritten  of  the  date,  at  the  lodging  of  the  late  Mr 
James  Lyndsay,  within  the  burgh  of  Edinburgh,  upon  the 
5th  and  6th  days  of  February,  1577,  beforesaid,  before 
these  witnesses — Robert  Johnstone  in  Cummertrees,  John 
Johnstone  oy  (grandson)  and  apparent  heir  to  the  Laird  of 
Holmendes,  John  Brown  of  the  Land,  and  John  Johnstone, 
writer  in  Edinburgh,  and  divers  others.  .  .  .  The 
said  John  Johnstone  of  Newby  being  sick  in  body,  but 
whole  in  mind,  submits  himself  soul  and  body  to  the  mercy 
of  God,  recommending  his  wife  and  bairnes  to  the  favour, 
protection,  and  maintenance  of  the  Regent's  grace  and  the 
Earl  of  Angus,  Lieutenant  and  Warden  of  the  West 
Marches,  which  he  is  persuaded  they  shall  find  for  the  good 
and  true  service  that  he  has  made,  and  always  intended  to 
make,  under  the  King's  majesty  for  ever  if  it  had  been 
God's  pleasure  longer  to  continue  his  days,  beseeching  the 


120  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

said  Earl  of  Angus  that  by  his  lordship's  means  it  may 
please  the  Regent's  grace  to  dispone  the  ward  and  marriage 
of  the  said  John,  grandson  to  the  said  Marioun  Carruthers, 
his  wife,  for  the  help  of  his  four  younger  sons.  He  makes 
and  constitutes  the  said  Marioun  Carruthers,  his  wife,  so 
continuing  in  her  pure  widowhood,  tutrix  testamentor  to 
his  grandson  and  apparent  heir.  He  makes  Robert  John- 
stone, his  son,  his  assignee  to  his  right  possession  and  kind- 
ness of  his  lands  in  the  town  of  Annan,  except  such  as  is 
annexed  and  possessed  with  the  Mains  of  Newbie,  and  wills 
the  said  Robert  to  be  good  and  friendly  to  the  poor  men  of 
Annan,  occupiers  of  the  same  land.  He  leaves  to  the  said 
Robert  his  right  possession  and  kindness  to  the  kirk  and 
tithes  of  Kirkpatrick-Fleming,  and  also  makes  him  assignee 

to  his  lease  to  run  of  the  lands  of within  the  lordship 

of  Dundrennan,  recommending  the  said  Robert  to  the 
favour,  protection,  and  maintenance  of  my  Lord  Herries, 
beseeching  his  lordship  not  only  to  extend  the  same  to  tlie 
said  Robert,  accepting  him  in  his  lordship's  service  and 
continuing  him  in  the  lease  and  possession  of  that  land  for 
his  service,  and  also  to  stand  good  lord  to  his  wife  and 
remaining  bairns.  To  his  son  John  he  leaves  his  house  in 
Dumfries  and  money  ;  to  his  brother,  John  Johnstone  of 
Cummertrees,  a  portion  of  his  lands  of  Ryehill,  and  the 
.remaining  portion  to  his  son  Edward  ;  to  his  fiftli  son, 
Abraham,  he  leaves  lands  in  Middlebie,  and  to  his  son 
William  lands  in  Stapleton.  To  his  youngest  son  David  he 
leaves  lands  in  Robgill,  and  also  the  lease  of  certain  lands 
which  had  been  settled  upon  his  widowed  daughter-in-law 
and  her  husband  on  their  marriage,  the  said  David  paying 
to  her  thankfully  the  duty  contained  in  the  said  lease 
during  her  lifetime." 

In  1582  Robert  Johnstone  received  a  grant  of  the  lands 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  121 

of  Northfield  and  Brigholme,  near  Annan,  from  the  King, 
"who  followed  the  good  example  of  his  noble  ancestors,"  so 
the  charter  runs,  "  in  rewarding  useful  lieges,  and  solicitous 
for  good  and  honest  holders  of  the  royal  lands,"  hereby 
infefted  "  the  son  of  the  late  John  Johnstone  of  Newbie  " 
in  lands  joining  his  nephew's  property  of  Newbie  and 
Stapleton  and  his  own  inheritance  ;  one  of  his  neighbours, 
as  the  charter  also  states,  being  Christopher  Irving,  or 
"Black  Christie,"  on  the  land  of  Galabank,  this  Christopher 
beins  son-in-law  to  the  late  Laird  of  Johnstone. 

Tlie  Lairds  of  the  West  Marches  able  to  keep  order  on 
the  Borders  in  1587  are  given  in  the  95th  Act  of  the  11th 
Parliament  of  James  VI. — "  Lord  Maxwell  ;  Douglas, 
Laird  of  Drumlanrig  ;  the  Laird  of  Jolmstone  ;  Jardine, 
Laird  of  Applegirth  ;  Carruthers,  Laird  of  Holmains ; 
Johnstone,  Laird  of  Graitney  ;  Maxwell,  Lord  Herries  ;  the 
Laird  of  Dunwidie  (an  estate  lying  between  Wamphray, 
Corrie,  and  Kirkpatrick-Fleming),  and  Gordon,  Laird  of 
Lochinvar."  The  same  were  appointed  Constables  on  the 
Borders  in  1597,  and  also  .Johnstone  of  Newbie.  A  grand- 
son of  James  Johnstone  of  Wamphray  brought  about  a 
serious  civil  feud.  He  was  known  as  the  Galliard  (a  gay, 
reckless  character),  and  in  1593  was  seized  by  some  of  the 
Crichtons  while  carrying  off  one  of  their  horses,  and  he  was 
hung  before  his  nephew  William's  eyes  in  spite  of  the 
younger  Johnstone's  offers  and  entreaties.  This  led  to  a 
skirmish,  when,  according  to  the  ballad  of  "  The  Lads  of 
Wamphray,"  "  the  Biddes  burn  three  days  ran  blood,"  and 
the  Crichtons,  who  suffered  the  most,  appealed  for  redi-ess 
to  the  Warden,  Lord  Maxwell  ;  while  fifteen  widows  whose 
husbands  had  fallen  in  the  fight  went  to  Edinburgh  to  lodge 
a  petition  with  the  King  and  his  council,  and  caused  a  great 
sensation    by    marching  through   the  streets  carrying  the 


122  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

dead  men's  blood-stained  clothes.  The  Laird  of  Johnstone 
was  summoned  to  Edinburgh  to  answer  the  charge,  and 
was  imprisoned  in  the  Castle,  but  escaped  on  the  4th  of 
June,  1593,  and  returned  to  Dumfriesshire  to  collect  his 
followers.  He  was  proclaimed  an  outlaw,  and  Maxwell 
ordered  to  arrest  him  ;  but  before  attempting  it  the  Warden 
formed  a  secret  bond  of  manrent  with  Douglas  of  Drum- 
lanrig,  Crichton,  Kirkpatrick  of  Closeburn,  and  others  who 
agreed  to  support  him.  He  had  signed  an  agreement  with 
Johnstone  only  the  previous  year,  in  which  they  had 
obliged  themselves  to  "  freely  remit  and  forgive  all  rancours 
of  mind,  grudge,  malice,  and  feuds  that  had  passed  or  fallen 
between  them  in  any  time  bygone."  The  new  agreement 
was,  accoi'ding  to  Spottiswood,  "  kept  so  carelessly  that  it 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Johnstone  of  Cummertrees,"  not  a 
vassal  of  Maxwell's,  as  is  sometimes  stated,  and  he  gave  it 
up  to  his  chief,  who  on  receiving  Maxwell's  formal  summons 
to  surrender  for  trial  scornfully  cast  it  aside  and  prepared 
for  battle.  Maxwell  was  assisted  by  some  of  the  royal 
troops,  and  assembled  two  thousand  men  under  his  banner 
at  Lochmaben  ;  but  Johnstone,  assisted  by  his  mother's 
relations,  the  Scots  of  Eskdale  and  Teviotdale,  the  Elliots 
of  Liddesdale,  and  the  divisions  of  his  own  clan,  who 
counted  among  their  retainers  the  Bells,  Irvings,  and 
Grahames  of  Graitney,  brought  more  than  half  that  number 
to  Dryfesdale,  where,  near  a  farm  and  moor  called  Torwood, 
the  battle  of  Dryfe  Sands  was  fought.  The  young  Laird  of 
Newbie  seems  to  have  abstained  from  taking  a  personal 
part  in  the  battle,  his  maternal  grandfather,  Maxwell  of 
Brackenside,  being  on  the  opposite  side  with  eiglity  fol 
lowers,  as  well  as  his  wife's  relations,  but  his  uncle,  Robert 
Jolmstone,  was  there,  two  Johnstones  of  Cummertrees  (one 
of  whom  was  killed),  as  well  as  the  Johnstones  of  Graitney, 
with  the  Newbie  and  Graitney  tenants.     The  Johnstones 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  123 

were  entrenched  in  a  good  position  when  Maxwell's  army 
crossed  the  Annan  to  attack  them,  but  it  is  said  that  tliey 
disdained  to  take  this  advantage  of  the  enemy,  and  came 
down  into  the  open  plain,  where,  owing  to  the  skill  with 
which  he  handled  his  men,  Sir  James  Johnstone  (for  he 
had  been  knighted)  gained  a  complete  victory.  Before  the 
battle  Maxwell  had  offered  a  ten  pound  land  to  the  soldier 
who  should  bring  him  Johnstone's  head  or  hand.  Hearing 
of  this,  Sir  James  declared  that  he  had  not  a  ten  pound 
land  to  give,  but  he  would  reward  any  man  with  a  five 
merk  land  avIio  should  bring  him  Maxwell's  head  or  hand, 
and  the  prize  was  gained  by  William  .Johnstone  of  Waraph- 
ray  (the  nephew  of  the  Galliard),  who  pursued  him  as  he 
was  flying,  and  struck  off  the  hand  which  he  stretched  out 
for  quarter,  while  Douglas,  Kirkpatrick,  and  Grierson 
escaped  by  the  fleetness  of  their  horses.  A  story  is  some- 
times told  that  Maxwell  finally  perished  by  the  hand  of  a 
daughter  of  that  Laird  of  Johnstone,  who  had  been  his 
prisoner,  and  who  had  died  in  consequence  of  shame  and 
grief,  but  this  is  genei'ally  discredited.  Another  story 
states  that  this  female  fiend  was  the  wife  of  James  John- 
stone of  Kirkton,*  who  lived  not  far  from  the  field,  and  had 

*  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone  (he  spelt  it  Johnstown)  of  Wavriestoun, 
executed  in  1GG3  for  his  share  in  the  Revolution,  was  son  of  James 
Johnstone  of  Beirholme,  who,  in  1608,  was  returned  heir  to  his  grand- 
father, Gavine  Johnstone  of  Kirkton  in  Kirkpatrick-Juxta.  They  came 
of  the  Elsieschellis  family.  The  Johnstones  of  Castlemilk  migrated 
about  1(J20  from  Dumfriesshire  to  the  east  borders,  where  they  founded 
a  family,  being  previously  of  Kellobank,  a  branch  of  the  Johnstones  of 
Elsieschellis,  who  are  found  in  the  1.5th  century.  The  old  poet-laureate, 
Rare  Ben  Jonson,  imagined  that  his  ancestors  came  from  Annandale, 
but  there  is  no  proof  of  it,  and  I  cannot  find  the  name  Benjamin  in  any 
bi-anch  of  the  Johnstones.  Born  in  1574,  the  son  of  a  clergyman,  he 
was  educated  at  Westminster  School,  and  ran  away  from  home  to  serve 
as  a  soldier  in  the  Netherlands  to  escape  being  employed  as  a  builder, 
which  was  his  step-father's  trade  At  one  period  of  his  career,  as  an 
actor  and  poet,  he  did  undertake  a  tour  on  foot  to  Annandale  with  the 
lio])e  of  finding  relations  there,  but  we  do  not  hear  that  he  succeeded, 
and  Jonson  is  a  very  old  English  name.  It  is  distinguished  from  the 
Scottish  Johnestounc  as  earlv  as  Edward  I. 


124  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

come  to  seek  her  husband  among  the  wounded,  wlien 
Maxwell  lying  fainting  under  a  tree  appealed  to  her  com- 
passion, William  of  Wamphray  having  abstained  from 
putting  him  to  death,  as  he  was  the  King's  lieutenant.  At 
any  rate,  Maxwell,  a  brave  and  well  educated  nobleman, 
was  killed  in  candying  out  the  King's  express  command,  and 
Sir  James  Johnstone  and  his  companions  were  at  once  out- 
lawed, "no  man  daring,"  as  a  contemporary  diarist  states, 
"to  take  any  of  them  into  his  house." 

It  was  a  curious  result  of  the  battle  of  Dryfe  Sands  that, 
little  more  than  two  years  after  Sir  James  Johnstone  had 
defied  the  King's  lieutenant  and  caused  his  death,  he  should 
have  been  invested  with  his  victim's  office  of  Warden  of 
the  Marches  ;  but  the  Scottish  Cabinet  had  conceived  a 
great  dread  of  the  power  of  England  during  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  avoided  nothing  more  than  a  breach  of  their 
present  harmony.  For  this  it  was  essential  that  the  out- 
laws on  the  Border  should  be  kept  from  troubling  their 
formidable  neighbour,  and  the  Laird,  under  whose  banner 
they  had  lately  fought,  was  the  most  likely  to  be  able  to  do 
it.  So  much  were  they  feai'ed  that  a  law  passed  in  1587 
prevented  any  Border  man  from  even  entering  Fife,  Peebles, 
or  Lothian  without  a  pledge,  in  consequence  of  an  applica- 
tion to  the  convention  of  Royal  Burghs  from  the  town  of 
Peebles,  June  4,  1583.  "  The  same  day  a  complaint  was 
given  in  anent  the  great  injuries  done  to  them  by  the  four 
clans  of  Johnstone,  Gi^ahames,  Elliots,  and  Armstrongs, 
and  what  i-edress  may  be  reasonablest  obtained  thereof." 
Perhaps  the  King  also  remembered  that  the  death  of 
Johnstone's  father  was  caused  by  a  similar  defiance  of 
his  delegated  authority  on  the  part  of  Maxwell,  the 
King  having  prevented  a  reconciliation  between  the  I'ival 
chiefs.     A  letter  from   the  Master  of  Gray  to  Johnstone, 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


125 


dated  Stirling,  September  4,  1585,  informs  him  "of  a 
report  having  readied  His  Majesty  and  the  Court  that  all 
the  Johnstones  had  appointed  with  Maxwell."  "The 
King,"  he  says,  "  disbelieves  it,  but  desires  to  be  advertised 
with  certainty."  William  Johnstone,  one  of  the  original 
students  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  gradu- 
ated in  1587,  was  presented  by  James  VI.  to  the  living  of 
Lockerbie  about  1592.  He  requested  the  Presbytery  to 
give  him  an  exchange,  as  he  "  durst  not  repair  to  Dumfries- 


SPEDLINGS. 


shire  on  account  of  the  feud  between  the  Maxwells  and  the 
Johnstones,"  but  his  petition  was  not  attended  to ;  and  he 
was  killed  in  the  street  of  Lockerbie  in  1595,  being  only 
29  years  of  age,  merely  because  of  his  name.  Those 
members  of  the  Maxwell,  Johnstone,  Douglas,  and  Scot 
families  of  an  unwarlike  disposition  had  no  resource  but  to 
leave  Dumfriesshire ;  and  several  went  to  Edinburgh, 
where  they  became  merchants,  and  were  often  much  richer 


126  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

than  the  chiefs  of  their  clans.  A  warrant  was  obtained  by 
Sir  James  Johnstone  in  1594,  under  the  King's  sign 
manual,  directing  the  Privy  Council  to  grant  a  respite  for 
five  years,  Dec.  24,  in  favour  of  Sir  James  and  eight  score 
followers,  for  the  pursuit  and  slaughter  of  John  Lord 
Maxwell,  His  Majesty's  lieutenant  and  Warder  for  the 
time,  and  of  sundiy  other  his  Majesty's  subjects  who  were 
in  company  with  him,  the  ruining  and  burning  of  the  Kirk 
of  Lochmaben,  and  the  slaughter  of  Captain  Oliphant  and 
others.  The  names  of  those  respited  are  given  in  the 
following  order: — "Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Dunskellie, 
Jolin  Carmichael,  Robert  Johnstone  of  Raycleuch  (who 
was  only  eleven  years  old),  Symon  Johnston,  (half)  brother 
to  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  Robert  Johnstone  in  Brigholme 
(of  Newby),  William  Johnstone,  younger  of  Graitney,  John 
Johnstone  in  Cummertrees,  William  Johnstone  of  Elsie- 
chellis,  Adam,  his  brother,  and  many  other  Johnstones, 
including  those  of  Kirkhill,  besides  Irvings,  Moflats, 
Carrutherses,  Scots,  Elliots,  Stewarts,  Chisholm,  Grahame, 
Armstrong,  and  Murrays."  Lord  Herries,  who  immediately 
succeeded  Maxwell  as  Warden,  paid  little  attention  to  this 
respite,  although  he  was  Johnstone's  brother-in-law,  but 
tried  to  pursue  and  punish  some  of  Johnstone's  followers, 
till  he  kept  the  country  in  such  a  state  of  confusion  that 
the  King  ended  in  superseding  him  by  Johnstone  himself. 
The  Johnstones  were  certainly  regarded  with  more  favour 
by  Lord  Scrope  and  the  English  Cabinet  than  the  Maxwell 
family,  who  were  supposed  to  be  attached  to  France. 
There  is  a  letter  preserved  in  the  English  Record  Office 
from  Sir  James  Johnstone  to  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  1592, 
promising  "  upon  his  faith,  honour,  and  truth  to  support 
whatever  he  shall  promise  to  the  Queen  of  England  con- 
cerning the  forthsetting  of  religion,  the  surety  of  the  King, 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  127 

and  the  preservation  of  tlie  amity  with  England."  Another 
letter  from  the  English  Ambassador  to  Cecil,*  in  1599, 
recommending  Edward  Johnstone  (one  of  the  Newbie 
family),  a  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  who  was  going  to  the 
Low  countries,  and  offered  to  do  service  there  for  the 
English,  states  that  Edward  Johnstone  is  very  "inward  " — 
i.e.,  intimate — with  his  chief,  who  is  one  of  the  "  most 
honest  men  in  these  parts." 

With  the  appointment  of  Johnstone  as  Warden  of  the 
Middle  Marches,  and  his  relation  Scot  of  Buccleuch  as 
Warden  of  the  East  Marches,  the  Border  disturbances 
seem  to  have  been  compressed  into  personal  quarrels 
between  the  chiefs.  Maxwell  married  Hamilton's  daugh- 
ter, and  this  powerful  Laird  (as  well  as  Douglas  of  Drum- 
lanrig)  could  not  forgive  their  defeat  at  Dryfe  Sands.  On 
July  13th,  1597,  there  was  a  fight  between  the  Laird 
of  Drumlanrig  and  Johnstone,  and  "  their  assisters,"  and 
shortly  afterwards  Johnstone  was  again  deprived  of  the 
Wardenry,  but  it  was  given  to  his  ally.  Sir  John  Cai'- 
michael.  Birrell,  the  Edinburgh  diarist,  writes.  May  27th, 
1598 — ■'■'■  The  Laird  of  Johnstone's  picture  was  hung  at  the 
(market)  cross  "  of  Edinburgh  "  with  his  head  downwards, 
and  declared  a  mansworn  man,  and  upon  June  5  he  and 
his  accomplices  were  put  to  the  horn  and  pronounced  rebels 
at  the  cross  by  open  proclamation."  This  appears  to  have 
been  in  consequence  of  Johnstone  having  failed  to  seize 
"  John  and  Jock  Armstrong  and  others,"  as  he  had  been 
directed  by  tlie  Privy  Council,  June  29,  1597  ;  so  his 
enemies  accused  him  of  collusion  with  them.  A  letter  from 
the  English  Ambassador  to  Cecil,  Oct.  12,  1599,  alludes  to 
this  faction  against  Johnstone.  "  On  Tuesday  last  the 
Council   going  to   the  King  to   Linlithgow  for   resolution 

*  Queen  Elizabeth's  Secretary,  and  ancestor  to  Lord  Salisbury, 


128  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

about  the  Border  causes,  the  Earl  of  Angus,  the  Lord 
Hamilton,  and  sundry  others  being  there  in  Johnstone's 
contrary,  and  the  Lord  of  Buccleuch  and  others  there  in 
his  favour,  the  matter  was  hardly  reasoned  that  day  and 
the  next  day  forenoon,  Angus  (for  now  the  cause  is  his 
against  the  Lord  of  Johnstone)  alleging  he  could  get  no 
sufficient  pledges  of  the  Johnstones  ;  and  Johnstone  that 
sufficient  pledges  were  offered  him,  and  needlessly  and 
wrongfully  he  raised  these  troubles  in  Annandale.  But 
the  trial  thereof  is  continued  till  Tuesday  se'ennight,  and 
George  Murray,  one  of  the  King's  chamber,  sent  to  receive 
Lochmaben  Castle  for  the  King,  Johnstone  being  directed 
to  write  with  him  to  that  effect.  This  George  Murray  is 
Johnstone's  own.  In  all  appearance  the  day  of  trial  and 
confronting  the  lieutenant  and  Johnstone  will  be  exceeding 
great,  and  may  well  breed  a  great  stix',  which  I  verily  look 
for.  In  the  meantime  Angus  is  not  to  meddle  with  the 
Johnstones."  On  November  12th,  1599,  the  Ambassador 
writes  again.  "  On  Thursday  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
brought  in  most  of  his  pledges,  and  is  gone  to  bring  the 
rest  of  Thursday  next,  and  thereafter  to  be  freed  and  go 
hence ;  the  Laird  of  Buccleuch  staying  only  to  see  him  at 
good  peace  hath  brought  the  matter  between  him  and 
Sanquhar  and  Drumlanrig  to  end  in  effect,  Johnstone 
having  subsci-ibed  an  assurance,  and  they  two  to  do  the 
like,  or  the  King  to  strait  them,  but  they  have  promised 
the  King  to  subscribe  ;  the  Laird  of  Buccleuch  hereon  hath 
taken  leave  of  the  King  and  Queen  and  gone  by  sea." 

"  The  Lord-lieutenant  Angus  came  not  with  his  pledges, 
but  excused  the  same,  and  is  to  bring  them  this  week  ;  the 
country  they  mean  thus  to  quiet,  and  that  Carmichael  shall 
be  Warden,  and  Johnstone  to  assist  him." 

Johnstone's  "assurance,"  above  mentioned,  is  signed  by 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  129 

himself  and  by  his  pledges,  John  Johnstone  of  Gi-aitney 
and  Gilbert  Johnstone  of  Wamphray.  On  July  2,  1600, 
he  was  solemnly  acquitted,  and  "  restored  to  his  honours," 
writes  Birrell,  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh  by  the  proclama- 
tion of  a  herald  and  four  trumpets.  The  same  year  he  was 
again  made  Warden,  Carmichael  having  been  murdered  by 
some  of  the  Armstrongs  as  he  was  going  to  open  a  court  at 
Lochmaben.* 

On  March  14th,  1600,  Nicolson  writes  to  Cecil  that 
"  Johnstone  has  twice  stayed  the  Armstrongs  very 
honestly,"  and  that  he  begins  "  to  smell  "  that  lie  has  been 
|)ut  in  fear  of  Borders  breaking  by  device.  In  another 
letter  he  alludes  to  the  anxiety  felt  for  James  VI.  to 
succeed  Queen  Elizabeth  on  the  English  throne,  as  it  was 
thought  that  otherwise  Scotland  would  be  certainly  annexed 
to  England  by  conquest.  The  Scots,  he  said,  were  greatly 
disheartened  by  their  losses  in  the  last  war  with  England. 

An  uncle  of  Sir  John  Carmichael  had  entered  the  service 
of  Muscovy,  and  assisted  the  Czar,  Ivan  the  Terrible,  in 
1569  to  subdue  the  rebellious  towns  of  Novogorod  and 
Pleskof .     He  was  made  Governor  of  Pleskof. 

Since  the  reformed  Catholic  religion  was  established  in 
Scotland  in  1560  the  alliance  with  France  had  been  much 
weakened.  It  was  clear  to  the  Scottish  leaders  that  their 
country  could  not  long  continue  to  maintain  its  indepen- 
dence, and  if  it  were  to  be  annexed  by  one  or  the  other,  of 

*  In  1602,  James  Johnstone  of  Westraw  pledged  himself  for  William 
Irving,  the  younger  of  Kirkton,  and  Robert  Carlile  of  Bridekirk,  while 
Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Dunskellie  guaranteed  James  Carlile  of  Soupil- 
bank.  The  heirs  of  the  Carliles  of  Bridekirk  possess  the  monument  of 
their  ancestor  who  was  buried  in  Annan  Churchyard.  On  it  he  is  called 
Herbert,  yet  the  printed  Acta  Dom.  Con.  always  call  him  Robert.  He 
married  Margaret  Cunningham.  "Heir  lyes  the  body  of  a  worthy 
gentleman  Herbert  Carliell,  Laird  of  Brydekirk,  who  lived  in  credit  and 
comnaendation  among  his  friends,  and  died  in  Christ  Sept.  1632,  of  his 
age  74."'     The  arms  ai-e  below. 

9 


130  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

course  the  reformers  preferred  England,  who  was  doing 
them  good  service  by  keeping  their  unhappy  Queen  in 
prison.  In  the  French  archives  a  deed  is  preserved,  dated 
April  14  (Easter  Eve),  at  Fontainebleau,  evidently  obtained 
from  the  youthful  Mary  under  pressure  from  her  future 
father-in-law,  Henry  II.,  and  her  other  relatives.  It  is 
endorsed  in  French.  "  Act  by  which  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
considering  the  great  expenses  made  by  the  late  King, 
Francis  I.,  and  by  the  reigning  King,  Henry  II.,  to  protect 
the  Kingdom  of  Scotland  against  the  English,  and  after 
having  taken  counsel  of  her  best  and  special  friends,  the 
Rev.  and  Illustrious  Cardinal  Lorraine  and  M.  le  Due  de 
Guize,  her  uncles,  declares,  wills,  and  ordains  that,  in 
default  of  heirs  of  her  body,  the  King  of  France,  who  is  or 
will  be,  shall  have  and  enjoy  the  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  its 
revenues,  &c.,  till  the  payment  of  a  million  of  gold  for  the 
cost  of  maintaining  the  kingdom."  Just  a  year  later  Mary 
was  married  to  the  Dauphin,  afterwards  Francis  II.,  who 
died  in  1559. 

The  subsequent  rigour  of  the  Scottish  Government 
against  Roman  priests,  who  were  liable  to  execution  if 
found  in  Scotland,  while  any  accused  of  attending  their 
ministrations,  or  of  even  professing  Romanism,  were 
exiled,  is  explained  by  the  constant  intrigues  carried  on  by 
the  Pope  a,nd  his  allies  in  France  and  Spain  against 
Elizabeth  and  James  for  the  sake  of  re-establishing  the 
Roman  supremacy  whei^e  it  had  been  lost,  and  as  a  faithful 
daughter  of  the  Roman  Church,  Mary  could  hardly  avoid 
sharing  in  them.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  horror  with 
which  the  news  of  the  suppression  of  the  monastries,  the 
confiscation  of  Church  property,  the  execution  of  the  abbots 
and  priests  who  refused  to  acknowledge  Henry  VIII. 
instead  of  the  Pope  as  the  head  of  the  Church,   and  the 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  131 

prohibition  of  the  Mass  was  received  by  devout  Churchmen 
on  the  continent. 

The  reign  of  Mary  I.  in  England  had  been  long  enough 
to  restore  a  large  portion  of  its  confiscated  property  to  the 
Church,  so  the  State  could  no  longer  be  pointed  out  as  the 
recipient  of  stolen  goods  ;  but  Rome  had  not  the  distribu- 
tion of  them,  and  the  Pope  saw  that  Elizabeth's  compara- 
tive tolerance  was  more  fatal  to  his  cause  than  the  avari- 
cious ferocity  of  the  King,  whom  his  predecessor  had  styled 
the  Defender  of  the  Faith. 

In  1586  Robert  Bruce,  a  Scotsman,  wrote  to  invite 
Philip  II.  of  Spain  to  occupy  Scotland,  and  "  in  this  way 
bring  back  the  Catholic  faith  in  the  end  also  to  England 
and  Ireland ;  for  in  Scotland  heresy  would  be  destroyed  at 
its  root,  the  English  would  be  expelled  from  the  low 
countries,  and  Prance  would  thus  obtain  the  key  to  their 
kingdom." 

The  agitation  on  the  Scottish  Borders  was  undoubtedly 
sustained  by  the  imprisoned  Queen's  emissaries,  but  at  last, 
in  November,  1587,  her  fate  was  sealed.  On  the  23d  she 
wrote  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador  in  England  after  her 
condemnation  thanking  him  "  for  the  last  time "  for  the 
interest  he  had  taken  in  her  captivity,  and  esteeming  her- 
self "  happy  to  die  for  the  Catholic  religion,  though  her 
enemies  say  that  she  is  dying  for  having  wished  to  murder 
the  Queen."  A  general  mourning  was  ordered  throughout 
Scotland,  and  it  was  openly  said  that  nothing  but  war 
could  wash  off  the  blot  from  Scotland's  shield.  This  feeling 
was  so  strong  on  the  Borders  that  in  addition  to  the 
irritation  caused  by  tlie  Reformation,  there  was  a  pretext 
for  constant  bickering  where  the  English  and  Scots  came 
so  closely  in  contact.  A  letter  is  preserved  with  the 
signature  in  cipher  addressed  from  Greenwich  to  a  coun- 


132  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

sellor  of  James  VI.,  March,  1588.  It  seeks  to  prove  to 
him  that  "  the  King  of  Scotland  ought  not  to  undertake  to 
avenge  the  death  of  his  mother,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  do 
everytliing  possible  to  bring  about  the  union  of  the  two 
crowns,  for  if  for  that  occasion  he  tries  to  make  war  against 
this  kingdom,  he  must  consider  two  points — first,  if  the 
war  would  appear  just  and  honest  in  the  sight  of  any  one, 
and  of  the  means  of  persevei'ing  in  it,  and  what  would  be 
the  conclusion  and  end  ;  and  secondly,  that  his  pretensions 
to  the  succession  might  fall  in  the  strutcgle."  The  author 
of  the  letter,  after  a  long  dissertation  on  each  of  these 
points,  concludes  that  the  end  of  the  war  would  be  the 
ruin  of  Scotland,  and  begs  the  King  not  to  attempt  it. 

Another  letter  of  1597  from  Queen  Elizabeth  to  James 
VI.,  preserved  in  the  London  Record  Office,  contains  a 
sharp  rebuke ;  tlie  King  having  opened  his  Parliament 
with  a  speecli  in  which  he  complained  of  the  wrong  done 
him  in  the  death  of  his  mother,  holding  back  his  annuity, 
and  efforts  to  deprive  him  of  his  title  to  the  Crown  of 
England.  "  When  the  strange  blast  of  flying  fame,"  she 
writes,  "  first  pierced  her  ears  she  thought  that  it  had 
brought  report  of  some  untruth,  but  when  the  records  of 
his  Parliament  were  witness  of  his  pronounced  words  she 
wondered  what  evil  spirits  had  possessed  him  to  set  forth 
such  infamous  devices  void  of  any  show  of  truth.  She  is 
sorry  that  he  is  so  fallen,  and  will  need  throw  himself  into 
such  a  hurpoole  of  bottomless  credit.  She  never  yet  loved 
him  so  little  as  not  to  moan  his  infamous  dealings,  but  he 
must  be  assured  that  he  deals  with  such  a  King  as  will 
bear  no  wrongs,  nor  endui'e  infamy,  and  that  without  large 
amends  she  may  not  and  will  not  slupper  up  such  indigni- 
ties." This  letter  produced  an  apology  from  King  James, 
but  it  shows  that  he  w^as  not  quite  so  indiflerent  to  the  fate 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  133 

o£  his  mother  as  was  affirmed  by  Queen  Elizabeth's  enemies, 
who  had  hoped  that  he  would  cast  off  the  English  alliance 
and  the  Reformed  faith  as  soon  as  he  came  of  age.  The 
Spanish  Ambassador,  writing  to  the  King  of  Spain  in  1587, 
thinks  that  James  had  a  secret  preference  for  the  Roman 
faith.  "  The  King  of  Scotland,"  he  writes,  "  arrived  on  the 
1 2th  of  Api'il  at  Dumfries  to  put  his  hand  on  Maxwell's 
collar."  But  the  last,  who  was  the  prop  of  the  Roman 
faith  in  Dumfriesshire,  "  had  gone  the  preceding  night, 
being  warned  by  the  gi'eat  lords."  He  suspects  it  to  have 
been  by  order  of  the  King  himself. 

When  the  Roman  priests  were  dismissed  from  the 
country  no  one  took  their  place  in  some  instances  for 
tliirty  or  forty  years,  and  even  more,  on  the  Borders. 
Early  in  the  1 7th  century  James  VI.  issued  a  proclamation 
to  appoint  clei'gy  throughout  Annandale.  "  The  inhabi- 
tants thereof,"  says  this  document,  "  are  for  the  most  part 
wild  heathen  men,"  and  for  at  least  a  generation  they  had 
no  chance  of  being  anything  else.  John  Johnstone  of 
Newbie,  from  his  will  in  1578,  seems  to  have  outwardly 
embraced  the  Reformed  opinions,  like  his  chief ;  but  his 
grandson  was  outlawed  in  1593  and  1602  for  hearing  Mass, 
and  having  his  children  baptised  by  Roman  priests  ;  and  in 
1595  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  Robert  Johnstone  of  Newbie, 
and  Charles  Murray  of  Cookpool  were  charged  with  the 
same,  and  for  entertaining  Roman  Catholic  priests.  The 
Church  lands  had  been  sold  to  laymen,  and  the  monastic 
estates  distributed  among  the  King's  favourites.  Graitney 
had  been  for  years  without  divine  service,  till  Murray 
obtained  a  charter  of  the  Bai'ony  of  Dundrennan,  and  it 
was  stipulated  that  he  should  pay  the  parson  of  Graitney 
an  income  of  400  marks.  The  zeal  or  half-heartedness  with 
which    the    Border    chiefs    threw    off  Romanism    had  un- 


134  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

doubtecUy  much  to  do  with  their  success  at  that  time  ;  and 
while  the  Buccleuchs,  Griersons,  Douglases,  Murrays,  and 
some  others,  who  were  staunch  Protestants,  received 
honours  and  lands,  the  Johnstones  of  Newbie  and  Graitney, 
and  a  few  more  who  were  secretly  Romanists  were  de- 
spoiled. 

It  is  often  forgotten  that  Presbyterianism  did  not  im- 
mediately succeed  Romanism,  but  that  the  Episcopal 
Church  remained  in  Scotland  for  nearly  a  century  simply 
divested  of  certain  Romish  principles.  So  late  as  1649 
Acts  of  Parliament  were  passed  forbidding  the  use  of  meat 
in  Lent.  The  Courts  of  Justice  were  generally  held  on 
Sunday  morning,  showing  a  laxity  which  perhaps  accounts 
for  the  reaction  in  that  respect  when  the  second  Reforma- 
tion was  established.* 

The  want  of  money  in  Scotland,  and  the  love  of  wai-  and 
adventure  which  characterised  her  hardy  sons,  induced 
many  of  the  younger  members  of  the  Scottish  families  to 
take  service  in  the  armies  on  the  Continent,  particularly 
during  the  reign  of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  after  the  accession 
of  William  III.,  when  political  reasons  deterred  some  of 
them  from  accepting  a  commission  under  the  Princes  whom 
they  considered  to  be  usurpers.  To  be  a  Scotsman  was 
undoubtedly  a  drawback  to  promotion  in  England  till  the 
reign  of  George  III.  or  later,  and  the  British  army  was 
very  small  compared  to  what  it  is  now,  and  a  commission 
and  outfit  more  expensive  than  in  a  foreign  force.  A 
journey  by  land  to  London  cost  more  than  from  Leith 
to  Holland  or  Bremen  by  sea.  But  the  sons  of  Scottish 
ministers  till  far  into  the  present  century  crowded  into  the 

*  Speed  (temp.  James  VI.)  describes  the  Scottish  gentry  and  nobility 
as  very  studious  of  learning,  for  which  end  they  not  only  frequent  the 
Universities,  but  also  much  addict  themselves  to  travel  in  foreign 
countries. 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  135 

ranks  of  the  Scottish  regiments,  and  were  distinguished  for 
their  courage  and  steadiness.  There  was  not  space  in 
Scotland  for  the  number  of  educated  men  who  annually 
left  the  colleges  in  search  of  employment,  so  the  list  of  the 
pioneers  in  India,  America,  and  the  West  Indies  is  filled 
with  Scottish  names,  and  every  army  on  the  Continent, 
including  the  Turkish,  contained  officers  of  Scottish  birth. 
One  instance  was  Patrick  Gordon,  who  entered  the  Swedish 
army  under  the  grandfather  of  Charles  XII.  In  a  war  with 
Poland  he  was  captured  by  the  enemy,  and  as  the  Poles  in 
those  days  seldom  exchanged  prisoners,  he  took  service 
with  the  King  of  Poland,  who  was  then  at  war  with  Russia. 
He  was  impressed  with  the  miserable  condition  of  some 
Russian  prisoners  of  war  in  a  dungeon  in  Warsaw,  and  did 
his  best  to  keep  them  fi-om  starvation;  and  in  a  subsequent 
battle  with  the  Czar  Alexis  of  Muscovy  (father  to  Peter 
the  Great),  when  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Russians, 
the  Czar  sent  for  him  to  thank  him  for  having,  as  he  had 
heard,  "  been  kind  to  his  poor  subjects  in  Warsaw." 
Thereupon  Gordon  offered  his  sword  to  Muscovy.  He 
and  his  son,  and  another  Scotsman  named  Bruce,  assisted 
the  Russian  armies  throughout  the  reign  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  the  younger  Gordon  published  by  far  the  best 
work  on  the  reign  of  that  monarch. 

Admiral  Gordon,  in  the  service  of  Catherine  I.,  was 
employed  by  Prince  James,  the  old  Chevalier,  as  the  Eng- 
lish Jacobite  envoy  at  the  Russian  Court.  Christopher 
Carlile,  one  of  the  Cumberland  Newbie  branch,  com- 
manded the  Russian  navy  when  Carmichael  was  governor 
of  Pleskof,  under  Ivan  the  Terrible.  He  had  married  a 
daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  and,  as  befitted  the 
descendant  of  crusaders,  he  wrote  a  book  against  the 
commercial  treaty  which  was  formed  between  the  Turks 


136  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

and  England  at  that  period.  He  pointed  out  the  great 
risks  that  the  traders  incurred  from  the  piratical  Barbary 
States,  on  the  north  of  Africa,  and  that  it  cost  them  £2000 
a  year  in  presents  alone  to  secure  even  partial  safety. 
These  pirates,  he  added,  were  equally  dreaded  by  our 
Italian  traders,  and  our  sailors  were  forced  to  pay  enormous 
ransoms  to  the  Algerians  for  their  rescue  from  slavery. 
Many  petitions  appear  at  that  time,  and  later,  among  the 
Scottish  records  from  prisoners  captured  by  the  Tui'ks  and 
Moors  for  assistance  in  paying  their  ransoms.  One  was 
sent  from  Algiers  by  Alexander  Sanders,  George  Anderson, 
and  Andrew  Monro.  They  state  that  they  cannot  repeat 
to  Christian  ears  all  the  horrors  they  have  suffered,  and 
the  scenes  they  daily  witnessed  while  held  in  chains.  The 
Lords  in  Council  directed  that  an  offertory  should  be  made 
in  the  churches  on  their  behalf. 

In  Monypeny's  Chronicle,  published  in  1587,  sixty-five 
lairds  and  gentlemen  are  enumerated  as  residing  in 
Dumfriesshire  and  the  Stewartry  of  Kirkcudbright. 
Nine  were  Johnstones,  viz.,  the  Lairds  of  Johnstone,  of 
Newbie,  of  Graitney,  of  Wamphray,*  of  Corrie,  of  Cor- 
head,  of  Craighopburne,  of  Newtone,  and  of  Kirkton. 
Six  were  Gordons,  viz.,  Lochinvar,  Traquhair,  Bar- 
skeoche,  Airdis,  Skernaes,  and  of  the  Cule.  Murray  of 
Broghton ;  Glendyning  of  Portoun  ;  Maclellan  of  Bomby, 
and  of  Mertoun  ;  Dalbeattie  ;  Lindsay  of  Barcloy ;  Lid- 
derdaill  of  St.  Mary's  Isle  ;  Herries  of  Madinhoip,  and 
Herries  of  Mabie  ;  eight  were  Maxwells  ;  Rorisont  of  Bar- 
dannoch  ;   four    Douglases  ;    Macnaught   of  Kilquhanatie ; 

*  Wamphray  is  described  in  au  act  and  decreet,  1611,  as  a  "  gentleman 
of  very  mean  rent — nothing  like  a  great  baron,"  and  his  brothers  "  but 
young  gentlemen  without  any  rent  or  means  of  living. " 

t  The  Rorisons  were  M'Rories,  Lords  of  Bute,  which  devolved  on  a 
son  of  Robert  II.  when  the  old  family  were  deposed. 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  137 

Stewart    of    Fintillouche  ;     Livingston    of    Little    Ardie ; 
Macnaught  of  that  Ilk  ;  two  Crichtons  ;  Menzies  of  Castle- 
hill,  and  of  Auchensell  ;  Maitland  of  Auchencastle  ;  Kirk- 
patrick    of    Closeburne ;     Kirkmichael  ;     Grier    of    Lag ; 
Charteris   of  Amisfield  ;  Broune  of  the  Lande  ;   Cunning- 
ham of  Kirkshaw  ;  Fergusson  of  Craigdarroch  ;  Hunter  of 
Balagan  ;  Kirk  of  Glenesslane,  and  the  Gudeman  of  Friar 
Kerse ;  Jardine  of  Apilgirth  ;  Murray  of  Cockpool,  and  of 
Moray quhat  ;  Carruthers  of   Holmendes,  and  of  Worman- 
bie  ;  the  Laird  of  Knock  ;  and  the  Gudeman  of  Granton 
and  of  Boidisbek.     There  were  also  twenty  "  chief  men  of 
name,  not  being  lairds,"  Adam  Carlile  of  Bridekirk,  Alex- 
ander Carlile  of  Eglisfechan,  Edward  Irving  of  Bonshaw, 
Lang  Ritchie's  Edward,  John,  the  young  Duke,  Chrystie's 
Dick,   Chrystie  the   Cowquhat,  Willie  of   Gretna  Hill  (all 
these  were   Irvings),  Roger  Rome,  Mickle   Sandie  Rome, 
David    Gass,    John    Gass,    Michil's    son    in    Rig,    George 
Grahame,   Arthur   Grahame,    Richie  Grahame,  Will  Bell, 
John  Bell,  Andro  Bell,  Matthie  Bell,  Will  Bell  of  Redkirk, 
Young  Archie  Thomson,  and  Sym  Thomson.     A  gudeman 
was  a  tenant  who  did  not  own  the  estate  on  which  he  lived. 
"  The  Sheriffdoms,  Stewardships,  and  Bailiwicks  of  Scot- 
land," wrote  Speed,  in  the  reign  of  James  YL,  "  are  for  the 
most  part  inheritary  unto  honourable  families."     Early  in 
the  year  1600  there  was  a  constant  interchange  of  letters 
respecting  the  incursions  of  the  Grahames  and  Armstrongs 
on  both  the  Scottish  and  English  territories,  and  Johnstone 
.  had    intervieAvs    with    Lord    Scrope    and    his    deputy,   Mr 
Lowther,  to  concert  measures  for  their  arrest.     On  the  7th 
of  April,  1601,  Nicolson  informs  Cecil  of  the  redress  he  had 
demanded  of  the  King  of  Scots  for  Border  disorders,  and 
encloses  this  letter  from  James  YL,  to   Johnstone,  dated 
Holyrood  House,  March  31,  1601  : — 


138  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

"  Right  trusty  friend,  we  greet  you  lieartily  well.  Albeit 
by  sundry  our  former  letters,  we  earnestly  willed  you  to 
keep  good  rule  and  quietness  in  the  country,  and  specially 
to  stay  all  attempts  by  the  broken  men  and  thieves  within 
your  bounds  upon  England  to  the  disturbing  of  the  peace 
now  in  the  dangerous  time  ;  yet  perceiving  you  not  to  be 
so  careful  therein  as  your  duty  and  charge  required,  in 
respect  of  the  continual  complaints  still  made  to  us  of  the 
daily  incursions  of  the  broken  men  committing  burnings, 
thefts,  taking  of  prisoners,  and  such  like  attempts  in 
England,  we  cannot  but  impute  the  blame  to  you,  who 
neither  stayed  the  same  nor  gave  us  any  advertisement  of 
your  inability  so  to  do,  that  we  ourselves  might  have  taken 
care  and  order  therein.  We  cannot  be  content  that  those 
people  our  neighbours  shall  be  overcome  with  such  rated 
thieves  and  rebellious  sinners,  and  that  the  peace  shall  be 
endangered,  and  therefore  we  have  given  liberty  to  your 
opposites  (the  English  Wardens)  of  the  Middle  and  West 
March  to  take  the  opportunity  of  the  outlaws,  and  rebel 
murderers  of  our  late  Warden,  and  of  all  such  other  notori- 
ous sinners,  disturbers  of  the  peace  and  countries,  of  such 
incursions  within  England,  for  whom  you  will  not  answer 
and  give  justice,  and  to  pursue,  take,  or  stir  them  at  their 
advantage  either  in  England  or  Scotland,  without  having 
any  answerable  or  honest  subject  unless  in  their  own  default 
of  being  in  company,  assisting  or  defending  the  rebels,  who 
in  that  case  we  will  not  hold  our  subjects  which  we  have 
thought  good  to  signify  to  you,  and  according  to  our  former 
directions  to  desire  you  to  concur  witli  your  opposites  in 
that  case,  and  in  all  other  things  that  may  stay  and  repress 
the  unhappy  and  wicked  course  of  these  rebellious  outlaws 
about  which  we  look  yet  for  a  better  proof  of  your  care  and 
good  will,  pursue  them  with  fire  and  sword,  and  forbid  them 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  131) 

rest  or  comfort  within  our  realm  under  pain  of  death,  for 
we  have  promised  to  your  opposites  to  cause  the  same  be 
done  by  you  with  all  diligence,  and  so  resting  persuaded  to 
find  your  amendment  in  anything  ye  have  overseen  or 
lacked  hitherto  in  your  matters  touching  us  so  nearly  as  ye 
tender  our  favour  and  good  will,  and  other  ways  will  he 
acceptable  to  us  upon  your  duty  and  obedience,  we  commit 
you  to  God.  "  James  R." 

ISTicolson  also  wrote  to  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  and 
received  this  answer  from  him  : — 

"  After  my  commendations  in  lawful  manner,  I 
received  your  letter  wherein  I  perceive  ye  think  I 
do  not  my  duty  in  meeting  your  officers  for  the  taking 
of  good  order  anent  the  punishment  of  six  malefactors 
as  trouble  both  the  counti-ies.  I  assure  you  it  has 
been  the  thinji  I  have  been  most  careful  of  ever  since  I 
accepted  this  office,  and  to  that  effect  have  craved  oft  and 
divers  times  meetings  of  my  Lord  Scrope,  and  could  never 
get  none  as  yet,  but  ever  deferring  answers  which  I  sent  to 
his  Highness,  the  King's  Majesty,  both  my  request  and  his 
answers,  which  I  doubt  not  you  have  seen.  His  Highness 
nor  ye  neither  can  put  no  fault  to  me,  for  I  assure  ye,  the 
Lord  Scrope  is  the  wite  of  all  done  since  my  acceptance  of 
office,  and  about  meeting  them  that  he  left  behind  him  in 
his  room,  I  can  have  no  certainty,  because  they  are  changed 
every  fifteen  days,  and  if  ever  I  get  a  meeting  set  down 
with  them  that  wrote  to  me  last  those  are  changed  and 
others  put  in  their  room  ;  wherefore  I  must  earnestly  desire 
you  to  cause  a  special  man  to  be  appointed  that  will  remain 
still,  and  that  the  Border  fears,  for  they  will  do  nothing, 
for  none  of  them  that  has  been  in  my  lord's  room.  I  have 
taken  some  special  Border  men  of  the  clan  of  Armstrong, 
and  have  them  in  sure  custody,  and  that  for  the  perform- 


140  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

ance  of  such  attempts  as  they  have  committed  against 
England,  and  have  likewise  charged  the  whole  Borders  to 
be  before  me  on  Saturday  to  come,  where  I  shall  take  such 
like  order  as  His  Majesty  has  given  direction,  providing 
that  I  may  receive  the  like ;  so  I  commit  you  to  God. 

"Of  the  Loughwood,  9th  April,  1601,  your  friend  in 
lawful  manner,  "  Johnstone." 

Nicolson  enclosed  this  letter  to  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  asking 
him  to  "  take  care  of  the  West  Border,  for  if  your 
Honour  do  not  it  will  breed  worse.  The  Laird  writes 
for    a    resident    and    a   man    that    will    be    feared. 

Johnstone  hath  done  great  service  in  taking 
these  men,  and  he  would  be  thanked.  He  hath  sent 
the  word  of  it  and  prays  him  to  send  warrant  to  keep 
them,  and  not  to  deliver  them  unless  for  justice  to  England, 
notwithstanding  any  warrants  to  be  after  written  in  the 
contrary  ;  a  square  and  honest  meaning  in  the  Laird.  I 
beseech  your  honour  consider  well  of  those  Borders  ;  my 
Lord  Scrope  thinks  much  for  my  plain  writing,  and  will 
think  more  if  he  knows  I  send  this.  Would  God  he  had 
been  as  his  father  was,  then  I  had  had  his  favour  the  more 
if  I  had  made  him  such  service." 

On  April  11th,  Nicolson  writes  that  "  Francis  Armstrong 
and  others,  the  late  spoilei's,  have  been  taken  by  the  Laird  of 
Johnstone,  and  recommends  that  they  may  be  delivered  up 
to  Her  Majesty's  officers."  On  the  22d  he  encloses  a  letter 
from  James  VI.,  "  by  which  your  honour  may  see  how  he 
storms  at  me  for  importunities,  or  rather  diligence  to  the 
full  of  my  mean  wit,  to  commend  the  amendment  of  tliose 
things  to  his  good  consideration.  Anent  his  writing  that 
at  my  desire,  he  sent  David  Murray  to  the  Laird  of  John- 
stone to  see  and  advertise  if  there  was  any  need  of  his 
presence.     Indeed,  I  Avould  the  King  earnestly  go  in  person, 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS.  141 

and  so  did  Joliiistone,  by  letters  which  seeing  it  would  not 
be  I  dealt  witli  him  to  send  some  of  his  own  to  charge 
Johnstone  to  do  diligence,  so  that  the  thieves  might  see 
that  their  misrule  displeased  him,  and  should  be  punished. 
But  now  the  Border  is  quiet  through  Johnstone's  diligence, 
who  hath  gotten  the  best  of  the  rest  of  the  thieves,  had  met 
Mr  Lowther,  meets  him  again  for  justice,  and  keepeth 
those  thieves  to  do  justice  with,  as  the  King  shall  be 
pleased,  which  he  will  obey.  So  as  there  is  no  fault  in 
Johnstone  ;  no  doubt  but  these  late  disorders  shall  redress 
and  all  be  quiet." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

King  James's  Ixtekview  with  Johxstoxe  axd  Scot — Johnstone 
OF  Gretna  —  The  Grahames  —  Lochinvar — Settlement  of 
THE  Borders  —  Attack  on  Newbie  —  Consequent  Lawsuits 
— The  Trumbles — Rigorous  Treatment  of  the  Romanists 
— Maxwell  Kills  the  Laird  of  Johnstone — His  Exile 
AND  Execution — John  Corsane — Justices  of  the  Peace  in 
1610. 

ON  April  26,  1601,  James  VI.  wrote  to  inform  Lord 
Mar  of  his  conference  with  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
and  Robert  Scot  "  respecting  incursions  by  the  English  on 
the  Borders,  and  in  regard  to  the  delay  which  had  taken 
place  in  staying  the  same  througli  the  absence  of  Lord 
Scrope  from  his  Wardenry  ;  that  a  complaint  was  to  be 
sent  to  the  Queen,  our  dearest  sister,"  pointing  out  the 
sloth  of  Lord  Scrope,  and  asking  that  a  fresh  man  should 
be  appointed,  such  as  his  father  was  ;  that  "  the  murderers 
of  the  Laird  of  Carmichael  had  been  protected  by  the 
English,  for  some  of  them  being  pursued  by  our  Counsellor, 
the  commendator  of  Holyrood  House,  and  the  Laird  John- 
stone, were  not  only  openly  received  in  full  daylight  by  the 
Grahames  of  Esk  (Englishmen),  but  fortified  and  assisted 
in  such  sort  by  them  as  they  fled  in  fear,  that  they  came 
back  in  company  with  the  said  outlaws  and  turned  a  chase 
upon  our  Counsellor  and  Warden,  pursuing  them  so  that 
they  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives.  We  are  certified 
by  our  AVarden  that  the  said  fugitives  and  outlawed  Arm- 
strongs have  their  residence  now  for  the  most  part  in 
■Geordie  Sandie's  house,  an  Englishman."     Two  days  later, 


THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES.  143 

Nicolson  wrote  to  Cecil  that  the  King  "  has  had  secret 
speeches  with  Johnstone,"  and  in  August  reports  another 
raid  on  the  Borders,  and  that  he  cannot  see  how  the  peace 
will  be  preserved  there.  He  writes  soon  after  that  Ninian 
Armstrong's  house  has  been  thrown  down  by  the  King's 
orders,  and  George  Sandie  Grrahame  been  delivered  up  by 
tlie  English  to  the  Scots  ;  and  on  May  25,  1602,  that  the 
outlawed  Armstrongs — Carmichael's  murderers — "  have  the 
last  week  ridden  upon  the  Laird  of  Johnstone's  lands,  and 
carried  away  some  of  his  goods,  and  the  other  Armstrongs 
would  not  rise  to  follow  the  rest,  which  the  Laird  takes 
evil,  and  intends  to  take  amends  as  he  may.  This  I  hear, 
and  I  do  fear  they  will  in  the  end  get  life."  He  adds  that 
"Johnstone  and  Mr  Musgrave,  Lord  Scrope's  deputy,  are 
the  only  bridles  that  these  evil  men  and  others  there  have. 
If  they  miscarry,  both  Princes  will  be  troubled  to  keep 
those  parts  in  order."  On  November  28,  1602,  he  writes 
affain — "  We  have  here  much  ado  about  our  West  Border 
affairs,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  making  odious  complaints 
of  my  Lord  Scrope  and  John  of  Johnstone.  I  see  no  good 
but  evil  appearance  therein,  yet  if  Lord  Scrope  please  to 
take  the  opportunity  he  may  have  with  honour,  his  Lordship 
may  do  anything  and  make  the  Laird  seek  him."* 

On  October  25,  1602,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  John 
Johnstone  of  Newbie,  and  John  Johnstone  of  Graitney, 
among  others,  signed  a  bond  of  peace  headed  by  the  King's 
name.  The  John  of  Johnstone  above  mentioned  was  the 
son  of  George  Johnstone,  the  son  of  William  of  Graitney, 
and  Baron  of  Newbie. 

When  James  VI.  became  King  of  England,  in  1603,  it 
was  of  the  first  importance  that  the  clans  on  the  frontier 

*  An  order  decreed  at  this  time  that  all  the  constables  and  landed 
men  should  keep  bloodhounds  on  the  Borders  to  track  out  thieves. 


144  THE    HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

should  be  quelled,  lest  their  incursions  upon  his  new  king- 
dom should  make  him  unpopular  with  the  English.  He 
appointed  Johnstone  of  Graitney  and  two  colleagues  to 
survey  the  debateable  land  and  surrounding  parts,  with  the 
view  of  placing  them  under  large  and  responsible  land- 
holders ;  and  in  the  State  accounts  for  that  year  is  a  sum 
of  £66  3s  4d  for  Johnstone's  expenses.  A  warrant,  dated 
Westminster,  January  27,  1608,  also  directs  the  Treasurer 
"  to  pay  to  John  Johnstone  of  Gretna,  Scotland,  .£100  as  a 
free  gift  and  reward."  The  Grahames  were  obliged  to 
emigrate  to  Ireland,  and  a  special  Commission  was  con- 
vened, which  sat  for  nearly  eighteen  years,  from  1604  till 
1621,  to  try  Border  causes.  In  1605  James  VI.  wrote  to 
the  Governor  of  York,  telling  him  to  furnish  the  Laird  of 
Johnstone  with  fifty  more  horsemen  to  aid  in  pacifying  the 
Borders.  If  he  had  not  got  the  money  for  them  he  was 
"  to  beg  or  borrow  it."  The  result  of  the  special  Com- 
mission seems  to  have  been  that  the  King's  favourites 
obtained  places  on  it,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  confiscated 
estates.  In  some  instances  they  also  gratified  private 
malice.  Many  outlaws  who  well  deserved  it  were  sum- 
marily hung,  but  others  whose  crimes  had  been  equally 
flagrant  were  spared,  and  even  rewarded,  because  they  had 
friends  among  the  Commissioners.  One  of  these  was 
Robert  Gordon,  the  heir  of  Lochinvar,  who  in  1602,  in 
revenue  for  the  death  of  a  relative  killed  in  a  skirmish, 
made  a  foray  through  Annandale,  Wamphi-ay,  Lockerbie, 
Reidhall,  Langrigs,  <kc.  ;  and  killed  Richard  Irving  of 
Graitney  in  his  own  house.  A  pax'ty  of  soldiers  was  sent 
to  arrest  him,  but  he  took  them  all  prisoners,  and  compelled 
the  ofiicer  who  commanded  them  to  eat  the  King's  warrant 
for  apprehending  him.  He  was  outlawed,  and  a  description 
of  his  personal  appearance,  as  well  as  that  of  Lord  Crichton 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  '  145 

of  Sanquhar,  outlawed  at  the  same  time,  was  sent  to 
Carlisle  and  Dumfries  for  their  apprehension.  Yet  only 
three  years  afterwards  Gordon  was  made  a  gentleman  of 
the  King's  Bedchamber,  and  received  a  gift  of  some  con- 
fiscated estates,  and  in  1621  he  was  created  a  baronet. 
Wm.  Maxwell  of  Kirkhouse  was  a  similar  character.  In 
1602  he  attacked  Wilkin  Johnstone  of  Elsiechellis  and  John 
Johnstone  of  Husliebray,  and  burned  their  houses  ;  and 
burned  James  Johnstone  of  Briggis  alive  in  his  residence. 
Yet  in  1607  the  King  presented  him  with  the  Kirk  lands 
of  Kirkpatrick-Fleming,  and.  ten  years  later  obliged  two 
Johnstones  to  sell  to  this  Maxwell  their  father's  land  in 
Kirkpatrick-Fleming  and  Castlemilk.  His  brother  was 
created  Earl  of  Dirleton. 

Douglas  of  Drumlanrig  was  made  Earl  of  Queensberry, 
and  Douglas  of  Angus  was  restored  to  his  ancient  honours- 
He  was  created  a  Marquis  in  1633,  and  recovered  some  of 
the  family  estates  forfeited  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century. 

Even  the  most  peaceable  of  the  smaller  landed  proprietors 
were  obliged  to  sell,  particularly  if  they  were  minors,  that 
their  estates  might  swell  the  heritage  of  a  richer  man.  But 
though  great  complaints  have  been  made  of  these  arbitrary 
proceedings,  it  is  allowed  that  they  were  effectual,  and  as 
the  old  poet,  Scot  of  Satchells,  sang — 

On  that  Border  was  the  Armstrongs  able  men, 
Somewhat  unruly,  and  very  ill  to  tame. 

But  since  King  James  the  Sixth  to  England  went ; 

There  has  been  no  cause  of  grief  ; 
And  he  that  hath  transgressed  since  then, 

Is  no  freebooter,  but  a  thief. 

Adieu  !  my  brother  Annan  thieves, 
That  helpit  me  in  my  mischievs. 
Adieu  !  Grossars,  Nickson,  and  Bells  ; 
Oft  have  we  fair  owrthreuch  the  fells. 
Adieu  !  Robsons,  Howis,  and  Pylis, 
That  in  our  craft  has  mony  wills  ; 

10 


146  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Littlis,  Trumbells,  and  Armstrongs. 
Adieu  !  all  thieves  that  we  belongs, 
Baillies,  Irwynes,  and  Elwoods  (Elliots), 
Speedy  of  flight,  and  slight  of  hands  ; 
The  Scots  of  Eskdale  and  the  Grames, 
I  have  no  time  to  tell  your  names. 

In  1612  bonds  were  drawn  up  and  signed  by  the  different 
clans  protesting  their  loyalty,  lamenting  over  the  blood 
shed  in  times  past,  and  the  loss  of  life  they  had  sustained 
from  thieves  and  murderers  within  the  Highlands  and 
Borders  ;  and  promising  for  the  future  to  pledge  themselves 
for  the  good  conduct  of  the  Borders,  as  they  would  at  once 
arrest  and  execute  any  such  offenders.  A  deed  preserved 
at  Abbotsford  is  signed  by  James  R.,  Lenox,  Huntlie, 
Montrose,  Cancellarius,  Angus,  Herries,  Caithness,  Traquair, 
Lochnivar,  Johnstone,  Drumlanrig,  David  Scot  of  Stobneil. 
At  Jedburgh,  •29th  March,  1612.  Walter  Scot  of  Goldie- 
lands,  Walter  Scot  of  Tuschelaw,  and  others  are  signed  for, 
being  unable  to  write. 

The  Laird  of  Buccleuch,  who  was  ennobled  in  1606, 
collected  a  large  number  of  those  mosstroopers  and  cattle 
drivers  in  the  middle  Marches,  who,  to  quote  Camden, 
knew  no  measure  of  law,  but  the  length  of  their  swords, 
and  sent  them  to  Holland  for  the  military  service  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  who  paid  him  for  it ;  and  in  Berwick- 
shire there  was  a  demand  for  agricultural  labour,  but 
Annandale  permanently  lost  much  of  its  population,  who 
were  now  bereft  of  their  employment.  The  long  sea  coast 
and  good  anchorage  between  the  Esk  and  Dumfries  pro- 
duced hardy  fishermen  at  Annan,  Redkirk,  Locharwood, 
Newbie,  and  Saltcoats  ;  and  these  were  turned  to  account 
by  some  of  the  landowners  in  a  brisk  trade  which  grew  up 
during  the  17th  century  between  the  West  of  Scotland  and 
the  Isle  of  Man,  Holland,  and  the  West  Indies.  A  Govern- 
ment vessel  was  kept  at  Dumfries,  but  appears  to  have  been 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS. 


147 


far  from  vigilant ;  so  when  liigh  duties  were  put  vipon 
foreign  and  colonial  goods,  this  trade  degenerated  into 
smufjclinsf,  which  was  extended  across  the  Esk  into  Eng- 
land,  and  continued  a  source  of  great  profit  till  compara- 
tively recent  times. 

In  1600  a  decree  of  the  Lords  in  Council  charged  these 
chiefs  with  the  care  of  the  Borders  : — Lord  Howe,  Sir 
James  Johnstone  of  Dunskellie,  James  Johnstone  of  West- 


FRIARS'   CAUSE. 

raw  (his  brother-in-law),  John  Johnstone  of  Newbie, 
Grierson  of  Lag,  Kirkpatrick  of  Closeburn,  Robert  Gordon, 
apparent  of  Lochinvar,  John  Johnstone  of  Graitney, 
Hamilton,  various  Maxwells,  and  Scot  of  Buccleuch.  But 
before  the  special  Commission  was  dissolved  in  1621, 
Newbie  and  Gi\aitney  had  disappeared  as  separate  baronies  ; 
the  first  being  absorbed  in  the  estates  of  Johnstone  of  that 
ilk,  which  joined  them,  and  the  last  having  returned  to  the 


148  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

barony  of  Comlongan  and  Cockpool,  to  which  it  seeins  to 
have    originally    belonged.       John   Johnstone,    the    young 
Laird   of  Newbie,   was   Provost   of   Annan  in    1604,   and 
obtained  its  recognition  as  a  burgh  from  the  Convention  of 
Royal  Burghs  which  assembled  that  year  at  Perth,  and  to 
whicli   he   sent  Jolm   Galloway   (uncle    to   the    first   Lord 
Dunkeld),    and    Robert    Loch,    bailies    of    Annan,    as    his 
representatives.     He  had  already  borrowed  various  sums 
of  money  from  a  relative,  Edward  Johnstone,  a  merchant 
in  Edinburgh,  when  he  was  outlawed  at  the  instance  of  his 
wife's  uncle.  Sir  James  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  for  a  debt 
to  him  of  2500  marks,  and  in  1605  he  died  at  Carlisle.     He 
left  seven  daughters  as  his  co-heiresses,  but  had  settled  his 
estate  on   the   second,   Barbara,   who  was  married  to   Sir 
William    Maxwell    of    Gribton,    a    nephew    of    Sir   James 
Johnstone's  wife.     As  the  barony  of  Newbie  was  entailed 
on  male  heirs,  it  was  claimed  by  the  Laird   of  Newbie's 
male  heir,  his  uncle  Robert  of  Brigholme,  who  established 
himself  in  the  Castle,  while  a  lawsuit  commenced  on  both 
sides.      The   matter  was   cut   short  by   William   Maxv/ell 
riding  with  a  troop  of  horsemen  and  one  or  tAvo  Johnstones, 
including  Robert's  nephew,   Robert  Johnstone  of  Brume, 
to  the  Castle,   where,  as   was  stated  on  the  trial,  Robert 
"lay    fast   in  bed   deadly   sick,"   and   the   intruders  were 
admitted  by  Maxwell's  wife,   Barbara  Johnstone,  and  her 
mother,  Elizabeth  Stewart,  Lady  Newbie,  who  were  also 
residing  there,  into  the  lower  hall,  whence  they  ascended 
into   the    Laird's    bedroom.       Robert's    brother,    Edward 
Johnstone  of   Ryehill,  attempted  to  defend  him,  but  was 
shot  through  the  body ;    a  servant  and   relation,   Arthur 
Johnstone,  was  wounded  in   the  face,  and  they   were  all 
"  thrust  out  of  the   Castle  with   their  hands   tied  behind 
their  backs."     Robert  Birrell  alludes  to  the  affair,  March 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  149 

19th,  1605.  "The  Maxwells  came  to  the  house  of  Newbies 
and  tuick  the  house.  In  talking  of  the  house  sundrie  were 
wounded  and  hurt.  They  keipit  the  house  till  the  gaird 
and  heralds  caused  them  to  surrender." 

William  Maxwell,  his  wife,  and  his  mother-in-law,  were 
summoned  to  Edinburgh  for  trial  on  the  21st  June,  1605, 
at  the  instance  of  Robert  Johnstone,  Edward  Johnstone, 
his  brother,  and  Arthur  Johnstone,  on  whose  part  Sir 
Thomas  Hamilton,  the  King's  advocate,  appeai^ed,  while  on 
Maxwell's  side  his  wife's  uncle,  Sir  Alexander  Stewart  of 
Garlies,  the  Laird  of  Amisiield  (Charteris),  and  Andrew 
Ker  of  Fenton  were  called  as  witnesses  for  the  defence. 
The  record  of  the  trial  is  headed,  "  Besieging  the  Tower  of 
Newbie,  Shooting  Pistolets,  Taking  Captive,  ifec,"  and 
begins,  "  Forasmuch  as  albeit  by  divers  Acts  of  Parliament 
our  Sovereign  Lord  has  prohibited  the  wearing  of  pistols 
and  hagbuts,  under  certain  pains,  notwithstanding  it  is  of 
truth  that  such  is  the  wicked  disposition  of  some  persons 
which,  preferring  tlieir  own  revenge  to  the  due  reverence 
and  obedience  of  his  Highness's  laws,  they  and  their 
domestic  servants  daily  and  continually  bear  and  wear 
pistols,  swords,  and  hagbuts  as  their  ordinary  and  accus- 
tomed weapons.  .  .  .  As  viz.,  the  said  William  Max- 
well of  Gribton,  Barbara  Johnstone  his  spouse,  and 
Elizabeth  Stewart  her  mother,  having  this  long  time  borne 
a  secret  and  hidden  malice  against  the  said  Robert  John- 
stone  of  Newbie,  in  respect  of  the  depending  of  certain  acts 
before  the  Lords  and  Sessioners  of  Council,"  &c.  The  trial 
continued  a  week,  and  was  then  prorogued  till  the  tliird  of 
July,  when  the  defendants  were  bovmd,  under  pain  of  200 
marks,  to  come  up  for  judgment  within  fifteen  days. 
Robert  Johnstone  returned  to  Newbie,  where  his  land  was 
overrun   by   some   of   Maxwell's   people ;    on    which    Lord 


150  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Herries,  at  the  instance  of  John  Johnstone,  advocate,  sum- 
moned Maxwell  to  appear  (October,  1605),  and  Sir  James 
Johnstone  of  Dunskellie  and  Robert  of  Newbie  at  the  same 
time  prosecuted  Elizabeth  Stewart,  Lady  Newbie,  and  her 
second  husband,  Samuel  Kirkpatrick  of  Hoddam,  who  on 
their  non-appearance  before  the  Court  were  outlawed. 
Lady  Newbie  appealed  against  this  decision,  and  Robert 
Johnstone  died  the  following  December,  leaving  two  sons, 
William  and  Edward,  both  minors.  Various  suits  were 
carried  on  by  young  William's  guardian,  his  uncle,  Edward 
Johnstone  of  Ryehill,  which  extended  through  the  year 
1606  ;  when  William  having  also  died.  Sir  James  Johnstone 
of  Dunskellie  bought  from  Barbara  Johnstone  her  own  and 
her  husband's  right  to  the  Newbie  barony. 

The  compact  was  signed  at  Dornoch,  Jan.  23,  1607  ;  and 
Sir  James  agreed  to  pay  25,000  marks,  and  to  bring  up 
Barbara's  six  sisters — Janet,  Mary,  Agnes,  Christina, 
Elizabeth,  and  Jeanette — in  his  own  house,  charging  him- 
self with  their  education  and  ultimate  marriage,  "  as  befits 
ladies  of  their  degree."  Their  mother  appears  once  more 
with  her  husband,  Kirkpatrick,  in  an  action  against  James 
Murray  of  Cockpool,  in  1610,  for  "non-payment  of  certain 
dues." 

Among  the  list  of  Border  proprietors  in  1624,  "  Edward 
Johnstone  of  Newbie  "  is  recorded,  for  though  Newbie  at 
that  time  belonged  to  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  he  and  his 
relatives  continued  for  the  rest  of  their  lives  to  be  called 
either  of  Newbie  or  of  the  parts  of  the  estate  where  they 
were  settled  as  kinsmen  without  legal  agreements,  but  with 
a  "  kyndlie "  right ;  as  Abraham  Johnstone  of  Milnebie 
and  Brume,  and  his  sons  Robert,  John,  William,  and 
Thomas  of  Brume  ;  Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  Castle, 
living  in  Mylnefield,  and  his  son  and  grandson,  both  John 
Johnstones  of  Mylnefield  ;  and  David  Johnstone  of  Robgill. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  151 

In  1573  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  was  lined  £2000  and 
outlawed  for  not  producing  John  Johnstone  of  Graitney, 
who  had  been  summoned  by  the  Privy  Council  to  make 
compensation  "  for  all  attempts  committed  by  himself,  his 
bairns,  and  servants  in  time  past ;"  and  the  laird  had  acted 
as  his  pledge;  but,  like  so  many  penalties  adjudged  to 
Border  chiefs,  it  was  probably  never  enforced,  as  the  two 
families  seem  to  have  continued  good  friends.  In  1602 
John  Johnstone  of  Graitney  made  a  complaint  to  the  Privy 
Council  that  having  sent  "  his  three  sons,  with  nine  of  his 
servants,  with  carriage  and  provision,  to  the  hunting  at 
Liddell  in  England,  having  obtained  licence  so  to  do,  for 
some  venison  for  the  banquet  made  by  his  chief,  the  Laird 
of  Johnstone,  at  the  late  baptism  of  his  son.  It  is  of  verity 
that  Thomas  Trumble  of  Mynto,  Hector  Trumble  of  Barn- 
hill,  and  Mack  Trumble  of  Bewbie,"  attacked  and  robbed 
them ;  the  carriage,  bedding,  and  victuals  being  worth 
£240. 

In  1612,  Graitney  was  confirmed  by  Crown  charter  in 
the  possession  of  this  John  Johnstone,  and  allusion  is  made 
in  the  charter  to  the  burning,  slaughter,  and  devastation 
of  these  parts.  Nisbet  in  a  heraldry,  compiled  by  order  of 
the  British  Government  in  1722,  speaks  of  Johnstone  of 
Graitney  as  "  another  cadet  of  Johnstone  of  that  ilk.  On 
an  old  stone  on  the  front  of  the  house  of  Graitney,  of  the 
date  1598,  is  the  shield  of  arms  of  Johnstone  of  that  ilk, 
with  the  addition  of  two  mullets."  In  1606  this  John  of 
Graitney  gained  a  suit  which  had  lasted  several  years  over 
the  sons  of  the  murdered  Richard  Irving,  who  had  obtained 
the  lands  of  Sarkbrig  and  Conheath,  in  Graitney,  on  mort- 
gase  from  John's  grandfather,  William  Johnstone  of 
Newbie,  and  were  now  obliged  to  give  them  up.  But  in 
1618  he,  by  royal  command,  sold  the  whole  Graitney  estate 


152  THE  HISTORICAL   FA]VIILIES 

with  the  consent  of  his  son  William,  and  of  his  relatives, 
Edward  of  Ryehill  and  David  of  Robgill,  to  Sir  John 
Murray  of  Cockpool,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of 
Gilbert  Johnstone,  a  merchant  in  Edinburgh. 

The  Kirk  land  of  Kirkpatrick-Fleming  which  had 
belonged  to  Robert  Johnstone  of  Newbie  was  conferred  on 
William  Maxwell  of  Kirkhouse  by  a  royal  charter  dated 
Whitehall,  Jan.  10,  1607  ;  and  Brigholme  and  Northfield, 
the  property  of  the  same  Laird,  were  sold  by  his  son 
Robert,  in  1610,  to  Mr  Patrick  Howat,  one  of  the  King's 
chaplains,  afterwards  a  Scotch  Bishop. 

Sir  William  Maxwell  of  Gribton  died  in  1621,  leaving  an 
eldest  son  John.  His  branch  of  the  family  were  still 
Romanists,  and  his  youngest  son,  Alexander,  appears  on  the 
list  of  Scotch  students  at  the  Douay  College  in  France  in 
1622;  Barbara  Johnstone,  Lady  Gribton,  being  at  that 
time  resident  in  Paris.  She  had  been  put  to  the  horn — 
i.e.,  proclaimed  an  outlaw  —  for  "  holding  Papistical 
opinions,"  as  the  Act  states,  in  1616  ;  as  well  as  two  of  her 
sisters,  Agnes  Johnstone,  spouse  of  William  Lawrie,  and 
Janet,  married  to  John  Browne  in  Lochhill.  Lady  Gribton 
appears  to  have  returned  to  Scotland  in  1628,  for  in  August 
of  that  year  James  Johnstone  of  that  ilk  appeared  in 
person,  and  became  security  for  Dame  Barbara  Johnstone, 
Lady  Gribton,  that  "  the  said  Dame  Barbara,  within  the 
space  of  one  month  after  this  date,  shall  depart  and  pass 
forth  of  the  kingdom,  and  that  within  22  days  thereafter 
she  shall  pass  forth  of  the  bounds  of  Great  Britain,  and 
that  she  shall  not  return  again  without  his  Majesty's  licence 
under  the  pain  of  5000  marks  ;  and  the  said  Dame  Barbara 
appearing  personally,  acted  herself  that  during  her  remain- 
ing within  this  kingdom  she  shall  not  receive  Jesuit 
seminary  priests,  nor  trafficking  Papists,   nor  shall  travel 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  153 

about  the  country  under  the  pain  of  5000  marks,  Sir  James 
and  his  heirs  becoming  her  cautioners." 

By  tlie  acquisition  of  Newbie  and  Stapleton,  Sir  James 
Johnstoiie  connected  his  lands,  for  he  had  previously  been 
obliged  to  pass  through  Newbie's  property  to  reach  some  of 
his  OAvn  estates.  Two  years  earlier  he  became  possessed  of 
the  barony  ot  Corry,  and  in  1599  he  had  turned  the  John- 
stones  of  Lockerbie  out  of  their  lands  in  Garwald,  and 
annexed  them,  although  one  of  these  relations,  Cuthbert 
Johnstone,  was  ninety  years  old.  Lord  Maxwell,  the  son 
of  his  rival,  who  had  fallen  at  Dryfe  Sands,  frequently 
threatened  him,  but  as  Lady  Johnstone  was  in  favour  with 
the  Court,  the  King  intervened,  and  ordered  Maxwell  to 
retire  to  Clydesdale  ;  and  when  he  returned  without  per- 
mission in  1601,  avowedly  to  revenge  himself  on  John- 
stone, he  was  imprisoned  in  Edinburgh  Castle.  Thence  he 
escaped,  but  was  shortly  afterwards  induced  to  sign  a  bond 
"  for  himself  and  taking  burden  for  all  others  concerned," 
by  which  "  he  forgave  and  remitted  all  hatred,  rancour,  &c., 
against  Sir  James  Johnstone  for  the  slaughter  of  John 
Lord  Maxwell,  his  father,  and  all  other  slaughters  and 
insolences  which  followed  thereon."  As  he  continued  in 
disgrace,  his  cousin.  Sir  Robert  Maxwell  of  Orchardstone, 
Johnstone's  brothei"-in-law,  arranged  a  meeting  between  the 
two  chiefs — though  it  was  to  be  as  secret  as  possible — in 
which  Maxwell  was  to  ask  for  Johnstone's  intercession  with 
the  King,  and  all  old  grudges  were  to  be  wiped  away.  Sir 
James  took  his  servant,  a  relation,  William  Johnstone,  and 
Maxwell  brought  Charles  Maxwell  of  Kirkhouse — a  circum- 
stance which  made  Johnstone  place  reliance  on  his  good 
faith,  as  he  was  a  nephew  of  John  Murray  of  Cockpool, 
whose  brother  Charles  was  married  to  a  Johnstone  of 
Newbie.     They  met  on  horseback  in  a  secluded  spot  near 


154  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Tinwald  (April  6,  1608),  and  while  the  two  Lairds  were 
conversing  with  apparent  amity,  Charles  Maxwell  entered 
into  a  warm  discussion  with  William  Johnstone  and  sud- 
denly fired  his  pistol  at  him.  William  tried  to  return  it, 
but  his  pistol  missed  fire.  He  shouted  treason,  and  Sir 
James  turning  round  was  shot  in  the  back  by  Maxwell, 
who  at  once  rode  away,  and  said  he  had  done  enough,  when 
his  second  advised  him  not  to  leave  William  Johnstone 
alive.  Sir  James  was  propped  up  on  his  horse,  but  had 
only  strength  to  say  "  Lord  have  mercy  on  me — Christ 
have  mercy  on  me — I  am  deceived,"  before  he  expired. 
Maxwell  fled  to  the  Continent,  and  the  case  was  tried  in 
Edinburgh,  June  24,  1609,  by  a  special  Parliament,  which 
found  him  guilty  of  high  treason  for  slaying  the  Warden  of 
the  Marches,  and  all  his  goods  were  to  be  confiscated.  He 
remained  abroad  till  1612,  when  he  ventured  to  land  in 
Caithness,  but  he  was  treachei'ously  seized  and  delivered  up 
by  his  cousin's  husband.  Lord  Caithness,  and  sent  a 
prisoner  to  Edinburgh  Castle. 

By  the  King's  order,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  his  guardian 
(Robert  Johnstone  of  Raecleuch,  his  second  cousin),  his 
mother,  and  his  grandmother,  "  the  auld  Lady  Johnstone, 
were  asked  if  they  persisted  in  the  pursuit  of  their 
petition,  craving  justice  to  be  executed  upon  the  forfeited 
Lord  Maxwell  for  the  slaughter  of  the  late  Lord  of  John- 
stone ;"  and  they  said  that  they  did.  Lord  Maxwell's 
brother  presented  this  appeal  to  their  mercy — "  Ofiers  of 
submission  made  by  me,  sumtyme  Lord  Maxwell,  for  myself 
and  in  name  of  my  kin  and  friends  to.  .  .  now  Laird 
Johnstone,  and  his  tutors  and  curators.  Dame  Sara  Max- 
well, Lady  Johnstone  younger  for  the  time,  his  mother  ; 
Dame  Margaret  Scot,  Lady  Johnstone  elder,  his  gudedame, 
and  to  their  kin  and  friends,  for  the  unhappy  slaughter  of 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  155 

the  late  Sir  James  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk,  knight,  by  me." 
After  asking  forgiveness  of  the  Almighty  and  of  the  King, 
he  proceeded  to  offer  his  bond  and  sworn  faith  that  he  will 
forgive  the  slaughter  of  his  own  father  by  the  late  Laird  of 
Johnstone  and  his  accomplices,  and  that  it  shall  never  be 
brought  up  against  any  of  them  again.  He  then  proposes 
"  to  marry  .  .  .  Johnstone,  daughter  of  the  late  Sir 
James,  as  owing  to  the  sudden  and  unhappy  slaughter  of 
her  father,  she  is  left  unprovided  with  a  sufficient  dower," 
and  that  he  would  require  none  (Lady  Maxwell  had  died 
during  his  exile) ;  and  for  the  better  avoiding  of  all  future 
enmity  between  the  houses  of  Maxwell  and  Johnstone  "  he 
desires  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  may  be  married  to  Dame  . 
Maxwell,  eldest  daughter  to  Lord  Herries,  and  sister's 
daughter  to  me,  a  person  of  like  age  with  the  Laird  of 
Johnstone,"  and  he  would  pay  her  twenty  thousand  Scotch 
marks  as  dower  ;  and  that,  "  for  the  further  satisfaction  of 
the  house  of  Johnstone,"  he  would  consent  to  be  exiled  for 
another  seven  years,  and  longer  if  it  was  the  Laird's 
pleasure. 

Maxwell  seems  not  only  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
Christian  name  of  the  young  lady  whom  he  offered  to 
marry,  and  of  her  brother  the  Laird,  but  also  of  that  of  his 
own  niece,  from  the  blanks  left  in  the  MS.  His  petition 
was  disregarded,  and  he  was  condemned  to  lose  his  head  at 
the  Market  Cross  of  Edinburgh  on  May  20th,  1613.  He 
i-efused  to  avail  himself  of  the  services  of  a  minister,  being 
a  Roman  Catholic,  but  met  his  death  heroically.  Four 
years  later  his  attainder  was  reversed,  and  as  he  only  left 
a  daughter  Janet,  married  to  John  Corsane  (Provost  of 
Dumfries  in  1621),  his  title  went  to  his  brother  Robert, 
who,  in  1620,  was  created  Earl  of  Nithsdale. 

Tohn  Corsane  was  reputed  to  be  the  richest  commoner  in 


156  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Scotland.  He  was  the  twelfth  generation  of  a  family  long 
settled  at  Dumfries,  and  of  which  the  chiefs  for  eighteen 
orenerations  in  succession  all  bore  the  name  of  John.  The 
male  line  became  extinct  in  1777. 

The  Johnstones  of  Westraw  begin  to  reappear  in  Dum- 
friesshire affairs  early  in  the  17th  century.  The  Laird  of 
Westraw  married  a  sister  of  Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Dun- 
skellie,  by  which  he  probably  obtained  some  land  in  the 
county,  as  in  1600  he  is  among  those  charged  with  the  care 
of  the  Borders.  In  1608  his  name  was  joined  with  that  of 
his  ne[)hew,  the  young  Laird  of  Johnstone,  Agnes  and 
Elizabeth,  daughters,  and  Robert  of  Raecleuch,  executor  of 
the  late  Sir  James,  in  the  petition  for  vengeance  on  Lord 
Maxwell,  and  in  1617  with  that  of  Edward  Johnstone  of 
Ryehill  and  several  Murrays  as  curator  to  the  young  Laird. 
In  1624  Westraw  sold  his  estates  in  Lanarkshire  to  Sir 
James  Carmichael,  afterwards  Lord  Hyndford,  and  pur- 
chased the  lands  of  Glendinning  in  Dumfriesshire,  to  which 
he  crave  the  name  of  Westerhall  from  his  former  estate. 
His  great-grandson,  John  Johnstone,  was  made  a  baronet 
of  Nova  Scotia,  April  25,  1700,  with  a  destination  to  his 
heirs  male ;  so  as  he  left  only  one  daughter,  Philadelphia, 
the  title  descended  to  his  brother  William,  the  ancestor  of 
the  present  Sir  Frederick  Johnstone,  of  the  Johnstones  of 
Alva,*  and  of  Lord  Derwent. 

The  son  of  the  murdered  Laird  of  Johnstone  was  raised 
to  the  peerage  in  1628,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Johnstone  of 
Lochwood,  and  was  created  Earl  of  Hartfell  in  1643  by 

*  John,  fourth  son  of  Sir  J.  Johnstone,  third  Bart,  of  Westerhall 
(born  1734),  entered  H.E.I.C.S.,  and  commanded  the  Artillerj'  at  the 
Battle  of  Plassey.  He  bought  Alva  and  Hangingshawe.  His  son  James 
Raymond  Johnstone  (died  1830),  left  eight  sons  and  seven  daughters. 
James,  his  heir  (died  1S87).  John,  his  second  son,  went  down  with  half 
his  regiment  between  Madras  and  Rangoon.  John  A.  Johnstone  now 
of  Alva  (born  1847). 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  157 

Charles  I.  He  adhered  to  the  Royal  cause  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  was  imprisoned  and  his  estates  sequestered  ;  but 
on  the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  his  son  James  was  restored 
to  his  lands  aud  honours  ;  and  on  the  death  of  Murray, 
Earl  of  Annandale,  without  direct  heirs,  exchanged  his 
title  of  Hartfell  for  that  of  Annandale,  and  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  hereditary  Stewardship  of  Annandale  and  the 
office  of  hereditary  Constable  of  the  Castle  of  Lochmaben. 
In  1701  William  Johnstone,  second  Earl  of  Annandale  and 
third  of  Hartfell,  was  created  Marquis  of  Annandale  by 
letters  patent  to  him  and  to  his  heirs  male  whatsoever,  a 
title  which  has  been  in  abeyance  since  1792,  when  his  last 
son,  George,  third  Marquis  of  Annandale,  died  childless. 
It  is  now  claimed  by  Mr  Hope-Johnstone,  the  descendant 
of  Charles,  Earl  of  Hopetoun,  who  married  the  sister  of  the 
last  Marquis,  by  Colonel  Sir  James  Johnstone,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Johnstones  of  Newbie  Castle,  and  by  Sir 
Frederick  Johnstone  of  Westerhall. 

In  1609  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  at  Edinburgh, 
stating  that  "  our  Sovereign  Lord,  King  James,  for  the 
support  of  the  Town  of  Annan,  which  is  miserably  im- 
poverished so  as  not  to  be  able  to  build  a  kirk  to  themselves, 
has  granted  and  disponed  to  the  said  town  and  parochin  the 
house  called  the  Castle  of  Annan,  the  hall  and  tower  there- 
of, to  serve  for  a  kirk  and  place  of  convening  to  the  hearing 
of  the  word  and  ministration  of  the  Sacraments." 

The  Johnstones  of  Wamphray  died  out  in  the  male  line 
in  1657,  and  their  estate  was  ultimately  bought  by  Dr  John 
Rogerson,  a  native  of  the  place,  who  at  an  early  age  went 
to  Russia  as  chief  physician  to  the  Empress  Catherine  II., 
whom  he  attended  on  her  deathbed.  He  remained  attached 
to  the  Russian  Court  till  1816,  when  he  returned  to  Dum- 
friesshire, and  died  in  1823,  being  buried  in  Wamphray 
churchyard.     He  had  been  preceded  in  his  post  by  two 


158  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES. 

Dumfriesshire  men,  Dr  Halliday  and  Dr  Mounsay  ;  and  a 
member  of  the  Crichton  family,  Sir  Alexander  Crichton, 
succeeded  him  as  physician  to  the  Emperor  Alexander  I., 
and  went  through  the  Russo-French  campaign  of  1812-13-14. 

On  the  marriage  of  the  late  Empei'or  Nicolas  with  a 
Princess  of  Prussia  in  1817  he  was  appointed  physician  to 
tlie  future  Empress,  but  a  member  of  her  own  family  at 
last  interfered  when  she  had  been  in  bad  health  for  many 
months,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  old-fashioned  in  his 
practice  and  too  fond  of  the  lancet.  He  therefore  resigned 
his  Court  appointment,  but  continued  for  some  time  at  St. 
Petersburg.     He  died  in  Kent  in  1856. 

In  1610  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  Dumfriesshire  and 
the  Stewartry  of  Annandale  were  John,  Earl  of  Wigtown 
(who  married  the  widow  of  Sir  J.  Johnstone,  killed  by 
Maxwell),  Robert  Lord  Crichton,  Alexander,  Laird  of 
Garlies,  William  Lord  Cranstoun,  Sir  James  Douglas  of 
Drumlanrig,  Sir  John  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  Grier  of  Lag, 
Robert  Douglas  of  Cassogill,  Sir  Thomas  Kii-kpatrick  of 
Closeburn,  Wemyss  of  Cassogill,  Murray  of  Cockpool, 
Robert  Johnstone  of  Raecleuch,  tutor  of  Johnstone,  Car- 
ruthers  of  Holmains,  Mr  John  Johnstone,  John  Johnstone 
of  Graitney,  Sir  Robert  Dalzell  of  Knock,  and  Edward 
Johnstone  of  Ryehill  Castle. 

The  eldest  son  of  Sir  William  Maxwell  of  Gribton 
appears  in  1628  as  taking  out  letters  of  slain  against 
Johnstone  of  Willis,  who  had  murdered  William  Johnstone 
(he  was  natural  son  to  the  last  John  Johnstone,  baron  of 
Newbie)  in  the  town  of  Johnstone,  near  Lochwood.  John 
Maxwell,  the  pursuer,  is  called  his  sister's  son,  and  nearest 
of  kin  to  the  deceased.  The  case  shows  what  an  imperative 
duty  this  action  was  on  behalf  of  a  murdered  man,  and  also 
that  this  kind  of  connection  was  legally  recognised  as  a 
relation  in  Scotland,  though  it  never  was  in  England. 


CHAPTER    X. 

Actions  with  Regakd  to  the  Sale  of  Newbie,  &c.— Provosts 
OF  Annan  —  Galabank  —  John  Galloway  —  Edwarb  John- 
stone OF  Ryehill— Dr  Robert  Johnstone's  Will— Newbie 
Castle  Burnt— Johnstone  of  Mylnfield— Authors— The 
Decline  of  a  Border  Family— A  Funeral— The  Poverty 
OF  Scotland— Smugglers— Prince  James's  Invasion. 

PURING  twenty-four  years  after  the  purchase  of  the 
Barony  of  Newbie  by  Sir  James  Johnstone,  there 
were  legal  actions  regularly  twice  every  year  to  expel  the 
relatives  of  the  last  owner  and  their  dependants,  and  to 
enforce  the  payment  of  their  taxes  and  tithes.  At  that 
time  in  Scotland  farms  were  usually  held  by  one  man  in 
feu,  and  portions  of  them  were  sublet  to  five  or  six  tenants, 
who  were  all  held  responsible  for  the  rent.  Sir  James  had 
died  much  in  debt,  partly  owing  to  having  acted  as 
cautioner  for  relatives,  and  his  creditors  laid  claim  to 
Newbie,  and  obtained  decreets  to  compel  Robei't  Johnstone 
of  Raecleuch,  who  took  up  his  abode  at  Newbie  Castle  as 
guardian  of  the  young  laird  ;  Edward  Johnstone  of  Rye- 
hill  ;  his  brothers  David  and  Abraham  ;  his  sons  Adam 
and  John  Johnstone  in  Mylnfield  ;  his  grandson  John,  the 
younger,  and  many  nephews  to  quit  the  estate,  besides  the 
Irvings,  Gibson  the  ploughman,  and  others,  who  seem  to 
have  been  small  tenants,  and  whose  names  are  still  found 
in  these  parts,  Fareis,  Pott,  Wilkin,  &c.  The  names  vary 
in  these  summonses  as  time  went  on,  and  some  died,  and 
others  grew  up.     John  Johnstone  in  Mylnfield  was  Sheriff- 


160  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Depute  of  Dumfries,  and  infefted  the  young  Laird  of 
Johnstone  in  part  of  his  property  in  1609.  In  1611  his 
name  is  omitted,  and  a  seasine  describes  Galabank,  where 
he  was  living  the  previous  year,  as  bounded  on  one  side  by 
"  an  estate  of  the  late  Robert  Johnstone,  called  of  Newbie, 
which  John  Johnstone,*  the  son  of  the  late  John  Johnstone 
in  Mylnfield,  now  occupies."  Then  the  proceedings  are 
carried  on  against  his  widow  Bessie  and  her  son  Geoi'ge, 
and  against  his  eldest  son,  John  Johnstone,  even  after  the 
last  moved  into  Annan,  where  we  find  him  owning  a  "  vast 
stone  house  "  on  the  site  of  the  old  Tolbooth,  once  Bruce's 
Castle,  and  which  had  lately  been  occupied  by  Edward 
Johnstone  of  Ryehill,  who  was  married  in  1614  to  Barbara 
Udward  of  Castlemilk.  She  was  the  rich  widow  of  Mr 
John  Johnstone,  Late  Commendator  of  Holywood,  and  they 
removed  to  Edinburgh  and  Castlemilk,  wliere  she  owned 
houses.  She  died  in  1621,  and  the  next  year  Edward 
Johnstone  was  again  living  in  the  vast  stone  house  at 
Annan,  and  John,  his  grandson,  in  another  belonging  to 
Gaylies  Rig,  whom  he  had  lately  married,  but  still  owning 
land  in  Mylnfield.  In  1630  John  is  termed  "  callit  of 
Newbie "  (though  on  other  occasions  he  is  called  "  of 
Mylnfield  "  to  the  rest  of  his  life),  when  he  was  summoned 
in  company  with  Barbara  Johnstone,  Lady  Gribton, 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Seafield  (son  to  the  late  Robert  of 
Newbie),  Thomas  Corry  of  Kelwood,  Edward  Johnstone  of 
Ryehill,  James  Johnstone  of  Westei'hall,  James,  his  son. 
Viscount  Drumlanrig,  and  David  Johnstone  of  Edinburgh, 
by  the  Earl  of  Nithsdale  as  Sherifi",  to  show  their  title- 
deeds  to  the  Newbie  estate.  Murray  of  Dundrennan,  Sir 
Robert  Douglas  of  Torthorwald,  and  the  Commissioners  for 

*  He  is  called  John  Johnstone,  son  and  heir  apparent  of  the  late 
Johnstone  of  Newbie,   in   "Thomas  Corrie  of  Kelwood  and 


Newbie  against  the  occupiers  of  Newbie. "    1630. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  161 

settling  the  Borders  all  in  turn  summoned  them,  and  of 
course  the  relatives  of  Newbie,  the  kyndlie  tenants,  had 
none  to  show.  This  is  the  last  time  that  the  name  of 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Seafield,  the  heir  of  the  Newbies, 
appears,  and  he  probably  died  soon  afterwards.  Nine  years 
before  he  had  been  assaulted  in  the  streets  of  Dumfries, 
and  left  for  dead,  but  had  been  picked  up  by  Patrick 
Young,  surgeon,  passing  that  way,  and  revived.  He  had 
carried  many  suits  before  the  courts  of  law  against  his 
uncle  and  guardian  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone  to  put  him 
in  possession  of  the  property  of  his  ancestors,  but  never 
appears  to  have  married. 

Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  had  been  guardian  to  his 
nephew  during  his  minority,  and  also  one  of  the  curators 
or  guardians  of  the  young  Laird  of  Johnstone  ;  and  in  1619 
the  Laird,  and  the  Earls  of  Mar,  Lothian,  and  Buccleuch, 
Lord  Crichton,  Sir  John  Murray,  and  James  Johnstone  of 
Lochens,  also  his  curators,  brought  an  action  against  him 
and  against  Robert  Johnstone  of  Raecleuch  and  James 
Johnstone  of  Westerhall  to  recover  the  Annandale  charter 
chest,  which  was  in  Edward  Johnstone's  charge.  It  was 
restored  by  Lady  Wigton,  the  Laird's  mother,  to  whom 
Edward  had  transferred  it,  though  it  contained  important 
papers  connected  with  the  Newbie  family  which  have  never 
been  recovered  by  the  heirs  of  the  original  owners.  The 
year  before,  Edward  Johnstone  had  joined  with  the  other 
curators  in  an  action  to  compel  Robert  to  turn  out  of 
Newbie  and  give  it  up  to  the  young  Laird,  and  also  to 
render  some  account  of  the  estate.  In  1621  Edward 
Johnstone  of  R-yehill  ejected  Robert,  his  wife,  and  children 
from  the  Castle,*  and  put  the  young  Laird  in  possession  of 

*  In  1650  Fergus  Grahame  of  Blaatwood,  son-in-law  of  Robert  John- 
stone of  Raecleuch,  and  Sara  Johnstone,  his  wife,  bring  an  action 
against  the  Earl  of  Annandale  to  compel  him  to  provide  sustenance  for 
them  and  "  their  eleven  poor  children." 

11 


162  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

it.     Robert  made  an  attempt  to  turn  the  young  Laii'd  out 
of  Newbie,  assisted  by  young  George  Johnstone  of  Myhi- 
field,  and  a  trial  ensued,  but  no  sentence   seems  to  have 
been  passed  ;    and   Robert,   the  principal   defendant,  was 
cautioner  for  the  rest.     An  action  was  brought  in    1617 
against    young    John    Johnstone    of    Mylnfield,    and    his 
brothers  George,  Edward,  and  David,  with  Thomas  Car- 
ruthers,  son  of  the  Laird  of  Wormanbie,  for  carrying  arms 
and    assaulting    George    "VVeild,    a   tenant    in     Mylnfield, 
"  while  doing  his  lawful  affairs  in  sober  and  quiet  manner, 
looking  for  no  violence  or  injury  to  be  done  unto  him  from 
any  person."     John  Johnstone,   "  on  his   own   confession," 
was  fined  ten  pounds  for  the  whole  party  by  the  Lochmaben 
Court,  but  the  pursuer  not  being  satisfied  brought  the  case 
before  the   Lords  in  Council  at   Edinburgh,   where  John 
appeared  in  person  and  was  fined   forty  pounds.     This  is 
one  of  the  first  causes  connected  with  the  Johnstones  of 
Newbie  or  Lochwood  which  did  not  end  with   "  oft  times 
called,  but  never  appeared."     Another  cause  in  1618,  which 
drao-cred  on  several  years,  was  at  the  instance  of  the  Provost, 
Bailies,  and  Council  of  Annan,  who,  "  for  the  safe  transport 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects,  and  in  respect  of  the  great  poverty 
of  the  said  burgh,  had  kept  a  boat  and  exacted  dues,  and 
now  John  Johnstone,  burgess  of  Annan,  also  called  John 
of  Mylnfield,  and  others,  would  not  let  it  pass  their  land." 
This    action    was    brought    in    1628    before  the   Lords   in 
Council,  and  the  ofienders  not  appearing,  were   outlawed, 
a  sentence  declared  to  be   "  wrongful,"  by   the  Justiciary 
Court   at  Dumfries,  and  not  acted   on.     The   parson  and 
minister  of  Mofiat,  Mr  Walter  Whitford,  at  the  same  time 
brought  an  action  against  the  young  Laird  of  Johnstone 
for  unlawfully  convoking  his  kin  and  friends,  among  whom 
were  two  of  the  Newbie  family,  and  assaulting  people  in 


AND   THE  BORDER  WARS.  163 

Moffat.  The  relatives  of  the  Border  chiefs  being  no  longer 
employed  in  war  were  constantly  being  cited  for  offences 
of  this  description,  and  they  seem  to  have  had  a  perfect 
passion  for  litigation. 

In  the  cases  of  sequestration  or  compulsory  sale  on  the 
Borders  under  the  auspices  of  the  Royal  Commission  tliere 
seems  to  have  been  some  pretext  of  a  charter  granted  a 
hundred  years  before  to  the  incoming  possessor,  or  some 
marriage  into  the  family  of  the  old  owners ;  but  this 
occasionally  resulted  in  three  or  four  claimants  being 
infefted  in  the  same  estate.  Mr  Patrick  Howat,  one  of  the 
King's  chaplains,  was  infefted  by  Royal  Charter  in  the 
lands  of  Galabank,  Hardriggs,  Brigholme,  Northfield,  and 
Gullielands,  bordering  on  Newbie,  in  1610;  but  when  Sir 
John  Murray  of  Dundi'ennan  called  upon  all  in  that 
neighbourhood  to  show  their  title  deeds,  John  Galloway 
produced  a  resignation  from  Jeffrey  Irving  of  Bonshaw  (the 
son  of  Christopher,  whose  wife  was  the  daughter  of  John- 
stone of  that  Ilk,  and  was  living  there  in  1582),  infefting 
him  in  Galabank.  The  son  of  the  late  Robert  Johnstone 
of  Newbie  produced  a  Royal  Charter  granting  Brigholme, 
Hardriggs,  &c.,  to  his  father  in  1582.  John  Murray  of 
Aiket  showed  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Northfield  and  Gullie-. 
lands  under  the  great  seal  in  1604,  and  Ewart  produced  an 
old  charter  of  these  lands  made  out  to  a  John  Ewart  and 
his  wife  Janet  Johnstone  in  1549.  Thereupon  Howat 
disposed  of  Galabank  to  Galloway  (who  appears  to  have 
been  nephew  or  grandson  to  Christopher  Irving  and 
Margaret  Johnstone)  because,  as  he  states,  he  had  "  called 
to  mind  that  it  is  most  godly  and  equitable  that  the  present 
lands  should  be  sold  and  disposed  by  me  to  the  old  kyndlie 
and  native  tenants  and  possessors  of  the  said  lands  ;  and 
understanding  that  John  Galloway,  bailie  burgess  of  Annan, 


164  THE  HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

and  his  predecessors  since  many  ages  past  have  been  old 
kyndlies  and  native  tenants  and  possessors  of  the  said  lands 
of  Galabank,"  he  herewith  restores  them  to  Galloway  for  an 
equivalent.  Galloway's  brother  Patrick  was  another  of 
the  Royal  chaplains,  and  the  father  of  the  first  Lord 
Dunkeld.  His  wife  was  Helen  Gask  of  Ruthwell,  and 
their  daughter,  Helen  Galloway,  was  married  to  William 
Rig,  the  son  of  Cuthbert  Rig,  whose  signature  is  appended 
to  some  Maxwell,  Carruthers,  and  Burgh  of  Dumfries  deeds 
at  an  earlier  date,  and  one  of  whose  daughters  or  grand- 
daughters married  a  Maxwell  of  Kirkconnell.  William 
Rig  and  Helen  Galloway  had  two  daughters,  the  eldest 
married  to  John  Irving,  "  called  the  Laird,"  and  the 
younger,  Gaylies  or  Egidia,  was  married  fii'st  to  Robert 
Loch,  and  afterwards,  in  1622,  to  Johnstone,  "called  of 
Mylnfield,"  who  bought  Galabank  or  Gallowbank  from  his 
wife's  grandfather  in  1624. 

Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  is  last  heard  of  July  1, 
1640,  when  he  witnessed  a  bond  for  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
and  Sir  John  Charteris  of  Amisfield  at  Annan.  The  other 
witnesses  were  Grierson  of  Lag  and  Macbriar  of  Dumfries. 

The  many  lawsuits  he  had  taken  part  in  on  behalf  of  his 
two  nephews,  of  the  young  Laird,  and  of  his  stepsons,  as 
well  as  on  his  own,  impoverislied  him,  else,  from  the  lands 
he  had  possessed  and  the  many  times  he  had  acted  as 
cautioner,  he  must  at  one  time  have  been  a  rich  man.  One 
field  after  another  of  his  property  was  sold,  and  in  1634  he 
disposed  of  his  lands  in  Ryehill  and  Cummertrees  to 
Murray,  Earl  of  Annandale,  with  the  consent  of  Lady 
Wiston,  the  Laird  of  Johnstone's  mother,  and  of  her 
second  husband.  The  large  stone  house  in  Annan  and 
property  in  Stank  seem  to  have  been  all  that  he  had  left, 
and  these  went  to  John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield,  who, '  like 


AND   THE   BOEDER   WARS. 


165 


Edward  of  Ryehill,  was  frequently  Provost  of  Annan,  and 
a  member  of  Parliament  for  Dumfries. 

In  1640  the  friend  and  executor  of  George  Heriot,  the 
Royal  jeweller,  died  in  Edinburgh.  He  was  the  author  of 
a  large  folio  in  Latin,  published  at  Amsterdam,  on  "  the 
affairs  of  Britain  and  certain  other  European  nations," 
often    quoted    by   Sir  Walter  Scott.     He  left  legacies   to 


CLOSEBCRX. 

some  of  liis  nearer  relations  and  the  Laird  of  Johnstone 
his  executor,  besides  bequests  to  Dumfriesshire  charities, 
and  a  sum  of  money  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  Annan. 
He  was  commemorated  at  Edinburgh  on  a  tablet  in  the 
chapel  of  Trinity  College  Hospital  (pulled  down  in  1848  to 
accommodate  the  railway)  with  the  following  inscription  : — 
"  Dr  Robert  Johnstone,  of  the  house  of  Newbie  in  Annan- 
dale,  an  eminent  lawier,  among  several  other  considerable 


166  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

sums  left  by  him  in  anno  1640,  to  be  improven  into  certain 
pious  and  charitable  uses  in  this  city,  did  bequeathe  18,000 
merks,  which,  according  to  the  laudable  intention  of  this 
munificent  benefactor,  the  good  town  applied  for  advancing 
the  charitable  and  religious  ends  of  this  Hospital.  By 
which  donary,  as  by  the  many  other  acts  of  his  liberality, 
this  great  donator  hath  propa<^ated  a  lasting  momrmcnt  of 
his  piety  to  poEtsrity." 

As  Newbie  Castle  had  suffered  much  in  various  sieges,  it 
is  believed  that  the  Laird  appropriated  Robert  Johnstone's 
legacies  to  add  a  modern  structure  to  the  old  square  tower. 
Among  the  Wodrow  MSS.  is  an  account  of  the  drunken 
frolics  of  Sir  John  Dalziel  of  Glennie  and  his  associates, 
which  ended  by  going  "  to  the  Lord  Annandale's  house  at 
Nevvbie  to  pay  him  a  visit,  beginning  with  their  old  pranks, 
burning  their  shirts  and  other  linens.  A  little  after  that 
the  house  was  all  burnt,  and  it  was  reported  of  my  lord 
himself  he  knew  the  house  would  never  do  good,  for  it  was 
builded  with  the  thing  that  should  have  builded  the  bridge 
over  Annan  water.  It  is  said  that  the  servants  in  the 
house  were  amusing  themselves  with  drinking  burnt  brandy 
while  Lord  Annandale  was  away,  and  his  coach  driving 
suddenly  to  the  door,  they  thrust  the  blazing  spirits  under 
a  bed  which  caused  the  conflagration.  The  blaze  was  so 
great  that  the  chambermaids  in  Sir  John  Douglas's  house 
at  Kelhead,  three  miles  distant,  could  prepare  the  bedrooms 
without  candles." 

This  Robert  Johnstone  left  18,000  marks  to  the  College 
of  Edinburgh,  where  he  had  been  educated.  He  had  lived 
in  London,  at  Blackfriars,  for  many  years,  and  added  six 
scholarships  to  Heriot's  Hospital  to  be  held  by  Dumfries- 
shire boys  of  the  name  of  Johnstone. 

Robert  Johnstone    of   Raecleuch  was  dead  in   Aujrust, 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  167 

1627,  and  his  son,  Robert  of  Stapleton,  died  before  August, 
1656.  The  last  left  only  a  daughter  married  to  William 
Irving  of  Stank.  John  Johnstone  of  Croghan,  a  physician, 
is  reputed  to  have  been  a  relative  of  the  Annandale  family. 
His  works  were  published  in  Latin  at  London  and  Amster* 
dam  about  1630.  He  dedicated  a  history  of  quadrupeds  to 
four  foreign  physicians,  and  "  Thaumatographia  Naturalis," 
written  wlien  he  was  70,  to  the  Princes  Radziwil,  Count 
Boguslaf,  and  Vladislaf  Mpnwid,  all  Polish  nobles.  Arthur 
Johnstone,  a  poet  who  wrote  in  Latin  at  the  same  period, 
was  physician  to  James  VI.,  and  though  born  in  Aberdeen, 
claimed  kinship  with  Annandale.  One  of  his  poems  is 
addressed  to  James  Johnstone,  the  Laird,  and  another  to 
Baron  Robert.* 

George,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield 
and  Galabank,  married  in  1643  Agnes  Grahame,  a  descen- 
dant of  the  Laird  of  Johnstone,  who  died  in  1567.  George 
died  in  1649,  leaving  two  sons,  John  and  Edward.  Their 
mother  was  re-married  to  Robert  Fergusson  of  Hallhill,  and 
had  a  daughter  Agnes,  afterwards  the  wife  of  Mr  Orr. 
John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield  was  dead  in  1665,  and  his 
grandson  John  inherited  Galabank,  near  Annan,  "  the  vast 
stone  house  "  in  Annan,  Closehead,  and  the  lands  of  Stank. 

*  Chalmers  describes  the  ancient  salt  works  which  belonged  to  the 
monks  on  the  Solway,  and  to  the  Johnstones  of  Newbie  at  Priestwode, 
and  at  Carlaverock.  The  first  called  Lady  Saltcotes  was  then  owned  by 
the  Murrays  of  Cockpool  In  16(jl  an  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  in 
favour  "of  some  poor  people  and  tenants  in  Annan  who  by  their 
industry  and  toilsome  labour  do  from  sand  draw  salt  for  the  use  of  some 
private  families  in  that  bounds,  and  who  in  regard  of  the  painfulness 
and  singularity  of  the  work  have  ever  been  free  of  any  public  imposition 
until  the  year  1656,  or  thereby,  that  the  late  usurper  (Cromwell), 
contrary  to  all  reason,  equity,  or  former  practice,  forced  from  them  an 
exaction  to  their  overthrow  and  ruin,  and  thereby  so  impoverished  them 
that  they  are  in  a  starving  condition.  Therefore  the  Act  declares  the 
said  salters  wining  and  making  salt  within  the  bounds  above  specified 
in  the  manner  above  written  to  be  free  of  any  payment  of  excise  in  time 
coming." 


168  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Two  years  earlier  he  had  mortgaged  them  in  anticipation 
to  his  uncle,  Robert  Grahame  of  Inglistoune.  He  redeemed 
them  {March  14,  1672)  owing  to  his  marriage  with  Janet 
Kirkpatrick,  of  Auldgirth  (at  Dumfries,  Feb.  2,  1670), 
having  brought  him  an  accession  of  fortune.  Tlie  marriage 
contract  is  signed  by  Galabank's  mother,  his  grandfather 
Grahame,  and  the  bride's  cousin.  Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick. 
The  bridegroom  settled  his  property  on  his  wife  and  their 
children,  and  she  made  over  to  him  300  marks  given  to  her 
by  Sir  Thomas,  and  everything  else  in  her  possession. 
Galabank  was  made  a  bailie  of  Annan,  but  was  not  much 
there,  to  judge  from  his  letters  and  deeds,  which  are  dated 
from  Ruthwell,  Lochmaben,  and  a  variety  of  places.  In 
1673  he  again  raised  a  loan  from  Bryce  Blair,  the  ex-Provost 
of  Annan,  and  in  1677  from  his  brother  Edward.  In  1682 
letters  of  inhibition  were  raised  against  him  at  the  instance 
of  Bryce  Blair  to  prevent  him  from  disposing  of  any 
property  till  he  had  paid  his  debts.  The  next  year  he 
mortgaged  Galabank  and  Stank  to  his  brother,  who  was  on 
his  part  to  satisfy  the  creditors,  particularly  William 
Grahame  of  Blaatwood,  Provost  of  Annan  (owed  ,£373  9s 
sterling) ;  and  Grahame  received  his  iirst  instalment  of 
interest,  £22  7s,  at  once.  But  in  1684  William  Craik  of 
Arbigland  was  the  most  urgent  creditor,  and  a  warrant 
was  issued  in  the  King's  name  (James  YII.)  directing  the 
Sheriffs  of  Annandale  to  denounce  John  Johnstone  as  a 
rebel  from  the  market-place  of  Lochmaben,  and  to  seize  all 
his  moveable  goods  and  gear.  The  Sheriifs  and  other 
officials  seem  to  have  taken  no  notice  of  it,  for  another  was 
addressed  in  1689  in  William  and  Mary's  name  to  the 
sheriffs,  bailies,  and  stewards  of  the  Borders,  directing  them 
to  seize  upon  John  Johnstone  "  who  continues  and  abides 
under  the  process  of  our  said  horning  unslaved,  and  in  the 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  169 

meantime  daily  and  openly  haunts,  frequents,  and  repairs 
to  kirks,  markets,  fairs,  and  other  public  and  private  places 
of  meeting  within  this  our  realm  as  if  he  were  our  free 
liege,  in  high  and  proud  contempt  of  this  our  authority  and 
laws,  and  giving  thereby  evil  example  to  others  to  do  and 
commit  the  like  in  time  coming  without  remedies  be  thereto 
provided  as  is  alleged,"  &c.  The  letter  of  horning,  as  it  is 
called,  adds  that  he  is  to  be  put  in  sure  ward  in  "a 
tolbooth  "  (prison),  and  detained  there  night  and  day  at  his 
own  expense,  and  if  need  be  kyves  or  handcuffs  were  to  be 
used  for  that  purpose.  These  letters  of  horning  were  issued 
twice  every  year  without  any  effect.  John  Johnstone's 
wife  died  in  1680,  leaving  two  daughters,  Janet  and 
Barbara.  He  married  secondly  Elizabeth  Murray,  a  con- 
nection, being  one  of  tlie  Murrays  of  Cockpool.  She 
survived  him,  and  left  no  children.  He  is  mentioned  last 
in  a  deed  of  May,  1704,  when  he  was  dead.  Barbara  was 
also  dead,  but  the  marriage  certificate  of  Janet  Johnstone 
shews  that  she  was  married  Jan.,  1706,  by  the  Rev. 
Edward  Willshire,  according  to  tlie  laws  of  the  Church  of 
England,  at  Kirkandrews-upon-Esk,  in  Cumberland,  to 
Richard  Beattie  of  Milleighs,  in  the  same  parish,  where  her 
father  probably  retired,  as  in  1698  "letters  of  poynding 
and  horning"  were  registered  against  the  Provost  of 
Annan  (the  first  Marquis  of  Annandale)  and  the  bailies  for 
permitting  John  Johnstone  to  retain  possession  of  his  house 
and  goods,  and  to  go  about  "  unslaved,"  though  he  still  did 
not  leave  Annan  till  1701. 

His  brother  Edward  (a  Writer  to  the  Signet)  married  in 
1683  Isobelle,  daughter  of  Adam   Carlyle,*  whose  family 

*  Barbara,  daughter  of  John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield  and  Galabank, 
married  in  1648  Lancelot  Carlile  at  Dumfries.  His  elder  brother 
Adam  seems  to  have  been  this  Adam's  father.     See  also  Chapter  V. 


170  THE  HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

has  been  already  mentioned  as  descended  from  a  sister  of 
Robert  Bruce.  Carlyle  was  a  landed  proprietor,  and  a 
bailie  of  Annan,  and  endowed  his  daughter  with  a  house 
possessing  yards,  meadows,  mosses,  moors,  &c.,  according  to 
the  description  given  in  the  title-deed.  Galabank  was  one 
of  the  witnesses  to  the  marriage  contract.  The  bride  was 
fifteen,  and  her  husband  forty.  Edward  Johnstone  left 
Dumfries  about  this  time,  and  came  to  live  in  Annan, 
where  his  eldest  son  John  was  born  in  1688,  and  baptised 
May  27,  1689  ;  also  James,  born  in  1693,  and  three 
daughters,  Janet,  Marie,  and  Elizabeth.  He  was  treasurer 
for  the  burgh  for  ten  years,  and  his  executors  obtained  a 
receipt  from  the  magistrates  in  1706  setting  forth  the 
honourable  manner  in  which  he  had  fulfilled  his  trust.  He 
left  provision  for  his  family  when  he  died  (Dec.  30,  1697), 
aged  fifty-four,  although  both  his  brother  and  the  burgh  of 
Annan  were  much  in  his  debt.  His  will  is  dated  three 
days  before  his  death,  and  begins  with  a  confession  of  the 
Christian  faith.  He  gives  his  house  property  (burdened 
with  an  annuity  to  his  wife,  but  only  to  continue  during 
lier  widowhood)  and  300  marks  to  his  eldest  son  John. 
To  his  three  daughters  he  left  400  marks  each,  and  to  his 
youngest  son  James  300  marks,  the  last  to  succeed  to  his 
house  property  if  John  died  without  heirs.  If  any  of  the 
debts  due  to  him  were  recovered,  the  sum  was  to  be 
divided  between  his  two  sons  and  his  nephew  George 
Johnstone,  whom  he  left  co-executor  with  his  brother-in-law 
James  Carlyle,  and  he  charged  both  "  to  act  as  the  protec- 
tors of  his  wife  and  children,  to  see  them  righted  in  what 
belongs  to  them  as  far  as  they  can."  In  the  event  of  the 
death  of  his  children  without  heirs  his  lands  were  to  go  to 
James  Carlyle.  He  directed  that  his  body  should  be 
decently  buried  in   the   churchyard  at   Annan.     His   will 


AND  THE   BORDER  WARS.  171 

was  witnessed  by  Robert  Colville,  James  Carruthers,  John 
Irving,  and  George  Blair. 

Soon  after  Edward  Johnstone's  death,  his  brother  paid  a 
small  portion  of  his  debt  to  the  widow,  who  in  1704 
obtained  from  the  first  Marquis  of  Annandale  a  "  precept 
of  poynding  "  against  two  of  the  tenants  on  the  Galabank 
Bstate,  which  had  been  made  over  to  a  relative-  in  London, 
to  oblige  them  to  pay  some  rents  oveidue  to  her  and  her 
children,  instead  of  pa,ying  them  to  their  landlord.  But  in 
1708  the  Londoner  died  intestate,  so  the  Government 
claimed  Galabank,  Stank,  and  his  other  estates  as  its  due- 
A  protest  was  raised  by  Janet  Johnstone,  who  asserted  her 
right  to  them,  as  they  had  been  settled  on  her  mother,  and 
her  mother's  children,  of  whom  slie  was  now  the  sole 
survivor.  Her  cause  was  advocated  at  Edinburgh  before 
the  Lords  of  Council  and  Session,  and  decided  in  her  favour, 
and  the  order  of  the  Chancellery  infefting  her  with  the 
estates  is  dated  March  1st,  1709.  Anticipating  this 
decision  she  had  mortgaged  Galabank  to  her  cousin  John 
Johnstone  for  the  sum  still  unpaid,  which  had  been 
borrowed  by  her  father  from  his  brother.  John,  the  younger, 
exchanged  money  he  had  never  received  for  lands  his  cousin 
never  really  held,  and  was  to  pay  one  penny  a  year  as  an 
acknowledgment  to  Janet,  who  might  redeem  the  mortgage 
at  any  future  time ;  bu.t  this  plan  was  overturned  Jan.  4, 
1711,  by  a  decision  of  the  Lords  in  Council  in  favour  of  the 
Londoner's  creditors.  She  made  a  second  appeal  against 
this  verdict,  while  a  counter  appeal  was  lodged  on  behalf  of 
Joseph  Corrie,  to  wjiom  Galabank  had  been  mortgaged  by 
her  father. 

The  possession  of  the  estates  was  hotly  contested,  to 
judge  by  numerous  items  in  the  lawyers'  bills ;  John 
Carlyle  of  Limekilns  and  Bichardsou  of  Edinburgh  on  one 


172  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

side,  and  John  Hair  and  Richardson  of  Annan  on  the 
other.  John  Boswell  of  Auchinleck  was  also  employed. 
In  addition  to  the  causes  mentioned  eleven  legal  pi'ocesses, 
instituted  by  various  claimants,  seem  to  have  ruined  all 
concerned  in  them  except  the  lawyers.  John  Johnstone 
lent  his  cousin  Janet  money  to  carry  them  on,  and  on  Oct. 
10,  1713,  was  married  to  a  wife  with  a  fair  dowry,  Anna 
Ralston,*  the  daughter  of  the  deceased  "William  Ralston 
(related  to  the  Lockharts  of  Lee)  and  Janet  Richai'dson  of 
Hichill,  his  wife.  In  the  marriage  contract  200  marks  a 
year,  a  fourth  of  the  value  of  the  lands  of  Galabank,  was 
settled  on  Anna  Ralston  (Jan.  3,  1714).  He  bought  off 
Joseph  Corrie's  claims  to  Galabank  with  ,£1000  Scots 
money,  still  owed  to  Corrie,  but  was  immediately  sued  by 
Robert  Carruthei's,  another  creditor.  Before  this  time,  in 
return  for  what  John  had  lent  to  her,  whicli  she  had  no 
hope  of  paying,  Janet  and  her  husband  renounced  their 
claim  to  Galabank  in  favour  of  John,  who  was  to  take  upon 
himself  all  further  obligations  connected  with  the  estate 
except  a  small  annuity  to  Elizabeth  Murray,  Janet's  step- 
mother, which  she  still  engaged  to  pay.  Slie  declared  on 
oath  before  the  bailies  of  Annan  that  she  ceded  this  estate 
with  that  of  Stank  to  her  cousin,  being  no  ways  courted  or 
compelled  to  do  so.  Her  renunciation  is  signed  by  George 
Blair,  notary,  John  Irving,  Joseph  Irving,  John  Johnstone 
Robert  Johnstone,  Robert  Wilson,  and  Bryce  Tennan 
and  the  deed  of  gift  by  Richard  Beattie  and  several  more 
Another  deed  of  similar  import  is  signed  by  Bernard  Ross 
Mr  Jolm  Carruthers,  William  Johnstone,  Joseph  Murray 
Janet  Johnstone,  &c. 

John  Johnstone  was  infefted  in  the  lands  of  Stank  as 
early  as  May  3,  1704,  on  account  of  half  of  the  debt  due  to 

*  Ralston  of  that  Ilk  is  found  in  Lanarkshire,  1530. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  173 

his  father.  Yet  after  giving  up  all  right  to  her  father's 
property,  Mrs  Beattie  was  still  persecuted  by  his  creditors. 
She  left  Scotland  to  escape  a  summons  to  appear  before 
the  Lords  of  Council  in  1713,  and  the  next  year  John 
Johnstone  was  living  on  the  estate  of  Galabank,  much 
annoyed  by  trespassers,  who  pulled  up  his  trees  and  broke 
down  his  dykes.  One  Sunday  he  attacked  two  or  three  of 
these  intruders,  and  an  enemy  caused  him  to  be  summoned 
before  the  Kirk-Sessions  and  compelled  him  to  make  an 
apology.  In  1711  he  went  to  London,  where  Richard 
Beattie  in  a  letter  mentions  that  he  had  been  for  some  time, 
and  about  this  period  he  was  made  a  bailie  of  Annan.  In 
1719  he  obtained  "a  letter  of  horning  and  poynding" 
against  William  Elliot  of  Eckleton,  which  called  upon  the 
defendant  to  warrant  and  acquaint  and  defend  the  said 
John  Johnstone  personally,  or  in  his  dwelling-place,  against 
adjudications  "  affecting  the  houses  and  lands  now  in  his 
possession  within  six  days,  the  said  Elliot  having  accused 
John  Johnstone  of  being  unlawfully  their  possessor,  whereas 
he  had  received  them  lawfully  from  the  heritable  owners, 
Richard  Beattie  and  Janet  Johnstone,  for  certain  sums  of 
money  which  the  said  Beattie  absolutely  required." 

At  the  court  of  the  burgh  of  Annan,  September  29,  1714, 
held  by  John  Johnstone  and  John  Irving,  the  following, 
after  taking  the  oaths  to  King  George,  were  re-elected 
magistrates  for  the  ensuing  year,  viz.  : — James  Lord  John- 
stone (eldest  son  of  the  Marquis),  Sir  William  Johnstone 
of  Westerhall,  eldest  bailie ;  John  Irving  and  John  John- 
stone, second  and  third  bailies  ;  William  Irving,  treasurer  ; 
John  Halliday,  dean.  As  the  town  of  Annan  acted  very 
independently  of  the  Edinburgh  courts,  the  opponents  of 
John  Johnstone  and  his  cousin  had  little  chance  of  obtain- 
ing what  they  called  their   rights   against  the  Johnstone 


174  THK     HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

influence  in  the  burgh,  even  when  they  had  gained  their 
suit  before  the  Lords  in  Council.  But  the  Lords  once  more 
reversed  their  decision,  and  gave  it  in  favour  of  John  John- 
stone in  1718,  whereupon  he  paid  off  those  creditors  who 
had  obliged  the  Beatties  to  leave  Scotland.  Richard 
Beattie  was  dead  in  1718,  but  the  case  was  not  finally 
ended  till  1724,  when  James  Johnstone  was  deputed  by 
his  brother  and  his  cousin  Janet  to  make  an  amicable 
settlement  with  the  other  creditors  to  avert  any  more  legal 
suits.  On  Oct.  30,  James  wrote  to  his  brother,  in  a  letter 
addressed  "for  John  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  in  Annan, 
Dumfries  Bagge,  North  Britain,"  that  he  had  made  with 
some  expenditure  an  end  of  the  whole  affair,  and  obtained 
a  receipt  from  Mrs  Orr,  his  cousin,  but  a  creditor,  and  also 
,an  order  to  her  lawyer  to  deliver  up  into  John's  hands  all 
the  family  papers  she  had  received  as  a  pledge,  and  the 
various  legal  documents  connected  with  the  suit.  James 
Johnstone  wrote  again  on  Nov.  2,  and  stated  that  he  was 
going  to  Chippenham.  He  died  four  and  a  half  years  later 
(July  23,  1729),  at  the  Blue  Anchor  Inn,  in  Little  Britain, 
a  part  of  London  much  frequented  by  Scotsmen  at  that 
time.  He  was  thirty-six,  and  was  buried  in  the  St. 
Botolph's  churchyard,  Aldgate,  but  his  name  is  inscribed 
on  one  of  the  family  monuments  in  Annan  churchyard. 
He  owned  a  small  piece  of  land  in  Annan,  which  he  left  to 
his  brother,  but  debts  amounting  to  £340  4s  English,  which 
his  brother  paid.  His  funeral  expenses  were  <£17  4s  6d, 
exclusive  of  the  luncheon  at  the  Blue  Anchor,  and  the  bill 
contains  items  now  long  disused  at  the  quiet  funeral  of  a 
private  gentleman,  such  as  fourteen  men  with  wax  lights, 
two  men  with  flambeaux  to  light  the  door,  hire  of  fourteen 
silver  sconces  and  satin  favors.  There  were  sixteen 
mourners. 


AND    THE   BORDER   WARS.  175 

The  poverty  of  Scotland  as  compared  with  England  at 
that  date  is  much  dwelt  upon  by  travellers,  and  is  shown 
by  the  very  small  bribes  which  even  the  Scottish  Peers 
most  opposed  to  the  abolition  of  their  Parliament  were 
willing  to  accept  in  1700,  one  of  them  being  bought  over 
to  the  English  side  with  only  £11,  and  the  most  exorbitant 
only  requiring  £30.  In  1704  an  Englishman  passing 
through  Dumfriesshire  sums  up  his  impression  of  the 
country  with  the  remark  that  if  Cain  had  been  born  a 
Scotsman  liis  punishment  would  have  been,  not  to  wander 
about,  but  to  stay  at  home.  "  From  Moffat,"  he  says,  "  I 
came  through  Pudeen,  and  to  Annan  or  Annan  house, 
both  small  villages,  and  at  the  last  place  I  dined  at  a  good 
Scotch  house  ;  and  so  came  to  Lockerby,  a  small  town, 
where  I  lay.  It  had  rained  from  before  noon  to  night, 
and  to  comfort  me  more  my  room  was  overflown  with 
water,  so  that  the  people  laid  heaps  of  turf  for  me  to  tread 
upon,  to  get  from  the  door  to  the  tire-place,  and  thence  to 
the  bed,  and  the  floor  was  so  worn  in  holes  that  had  I  tz^od 
aside  a  turf,  I  might  have  sunk  to  my  knees  in  mud  and 
water,  and  no  better  i^oom  was  to  be  had  in  this  town. 
Nay,  worse,  my  room  had  but  half  a  door,  and  that  to  the 
street ;  and  the  wall  was  broken  down  at  the  gable,  so  that 
the  room  lay  open  to  the  stable.  And  yet  the  people  had 
French  wine,  though  it  was  always  spoiled  for  want  of 
being  well  cellared." 

The  Scots  had  long  been  famous  for  their  wine  and  for 
their  ability  to  consume  it.  "  Bacchus  hath  gi'eat  guiding 
here,"  wrote  the  English  ambassador  from  Edinburgh  with 
regard  to  the  court,  when  James  VI.  was  entertaining  his 
wife's  brother,  the  Duke  of  Holstein,  in  1598.  But  in 
1701  the  Borders  were  certainly  poorer  and  less  populated 
than  100  years  eai'lier.     The  Solway  had  increased  upon 


176  THE  HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

the   land,  and  thriving  villages,   such  as  Seafield,   on  the 
coast,  are  now  only  represented  by  a  farm  or  a  few  cottages. 

A  Laird's  wife  seldom  possessed  more  than  one  silk  dress 
in  her  whole  life,  and  that  descended  to  her  daughters  ;  a 
maid  servant's  wages  were  30s  a  year,  and  a  footman  in  a 
nobleman's  establishment  much  later  on  was  well  paid  with 
£5.  The  wine  bills  were  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  other 
expenditure,  although  wine  was  cheap  compared  to  articles 
of  food,  which  were  dear  considering  their  price  in  other 
countries  and  the  high  value  of  money.  Before  the 
Customs  were  made  uniform  in  England  and  Scotland, 
Annan  was  the  headquarters  of  an  extensive  smuggling 
trade  for  carrying  wine,  brandy,  and  other  foreign  goods 
into  Cumberland,  often  on  men's  backs  concealed  in  loads 
of  hay,  sacks  of  wool,  or  sheafs  of  wheat.  The  coast  was 
covered  with  small  ships  in  the  service  of  smugglers,  and  in 
1711  a  Custom-house  officer  writes  to  his  superior  in  Edin- 
burgh that  at  Ruthwell  the  people  are  such  friends  to  the 
traffic,  "no  one  can  be  found  to  lodge  a  Government  officer 
for  a  night." 

In  1711  there  was  an  agitation  throughout  Dumfriesshii^e 
in  expectation  of  the  landing  of  the  Chevalier  Prince  James* 
in  Scotland,  which  took  place  the  next  year,  when  for  the 
last  time  the  Maxwells  and  Johnstones  were  opposed  to 
each  other.  Maxwell,  Lord  Nithsdale,  heading  the  Jacobites, 
and  thereby  losing  his  title,  and  the  Marquis  of  A  nnandale, 
the  Lord- Lieutenant  of  the  County,  collecting  the  militia 
together  on  behalf  of  George  I.  Sir  Robert  Gordon  of 
Lochinvar,  who  had  been  created  Loi'd  Kenmure,  raised  a 
troop  at  Moffat  on  behalf  of  the  Chevalier  and  marched  to 
join  Lord  Derwentwater  in  Cumberland,  having  found  it 

*  As  Her  Majesty  objects  to  the  term  "  Pretender "  (see  "  More 
Leaves  from  our  Life  in  the  Highlands  "),  there  is  no  need  to  use  it 


AND  THE  BORDER  WARS.  177 

impossible  to  take  Dumfries,  protected  as  it  was  by  the 
Marquis.  He  was  captured  at  Preston,  and  executed  the 
same  day  as  Lord  Derwentwater — Feb.  24,  1716.  Dalziell, 
Earl  of  Carnwarth,  joined  the  Jacobites,  and  obtained  a 
reprieve,  but  his  title  was  attainted  and  not  restored  till 
1826. 

Probably  the  stagnation  of  trade  and  general  depression 
had  given  encouragement  to  the  Prince's  advisers,  but,  like 
the  expedition  under  his  son,  it  failed  for  want  of  money. 
In  1706  the  whole  coinage  of  Scotland  only  amounted  to 
£411,117  10s  9d,  and  of  this  sum  £40,000  was  English, 
and  £132,080  17s  in  foreign  coins.  The  Rev.  Alexander 
Carlyle  describes  a  visit  to  his  relatives  in  Dumfriesshire 
in  1733.  "The  face  of  the  country  was  particularly 
desolate,  not  having  yet  reaped  any  benefit  from  the  union 
of  the  Parliaments  ;  nor  was  it  recovered  from  the  efibrts 
of  that  century  of  wretched  government  which  preceded  the 
Revolution  and  commenced  at  the  accession  of  James  VI. 
The  Border  wars  and  depredations  had  happily  ceased,  but 
the  Borderers  having  lost  what  excited  their  actions  were 
in  a  dormant  state  during  the  whole  of  the  17th  century 
unless  it  was  during  the  time  of  the  great  rebellions  and 
the  struggle  between  Episcopacy  and  Presbyterianism. 
Sir  William  Douglas  of  Kelhead,  whose  grandfather  was  a 
son  of  the  Duke  of  Queensberry,  looked  like  '  a  grieve  or 
barnman  '  in  a  blue  bonnet  over  his  grey  hair  and  a  hodden 
grey  coat,  but  was  sensible  and  well  bred.  In  the  evening 
we  visited  an  old  gentleman,  James  Carlyle  of  Brakenquhate, 
who  had  been  an  officer  under  James  II.,  but  threw  up  his 
commission  rather  than  take  the  oath.  His  house  had  but 
two  rooms  above  and  two  below,  but  it  was  full  of  iruns 
and  swords,  and  other  warlike  instruments." 

When  Pennant  visited  Annandale  in  the  last  century, 

12 


178  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES. 

he  found  the  custom  of  hand-fisting  instead  of  marriage  still 
occasionally  practised,  and  attributes  it  to  the  time  when 
clergy  were  scarce  in  those  parts.  He  noticed  a  railed 
enclosure,  and  heard  that  it  was  a  refuge  for  criminals  and 
outlaws.  Yet  the  rising  in  favour  of  Prince  Charles 
followed  these  descriptions,  and  could  only  be  crushed  out 
in  Scotland  with  the  aid  of  Dutch  and  German  troops. 
The  licence  which  was  permitted  to  the  victorious  soldiers 
left  the  northern  parts  of  the  country  a  famine-stricken 
waste,  but  the  militia  recruited  in  the  county  were  again 
the  defence  chiefly  relied  on  to  secure  the  loyalty  of  Dum- 
friesshire, and  it  consequently  suftered  less  than  other 
parts  from  the  cruelty  and  exactions  of  the  avengers  of 
Gladsmuir. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

The  Johnstones  of  Galabank — Prince  Charles  Edward 
ENTERS  Dumfriesshire  —  Count  Lockhart— Imperial 
Visitors— Funeral  Expenses.— Howard's  Allusion  to  the 
Young  Physician — Sir  William  Pulteney— Alienation  of 
Galabank  — The  Poles  — The  Second  Marquis  of  Annan- 
dale — Johnstone  of  Gretna. 

I  N  the  old  graveyard  at  Annan,  where  the  Castle  formerly 
^  stood,  now  built  round  by  houses,  but  with  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  river,  two  large  monuments  record  the  names 
of  eleven  children  of  John  Johnstone,  the  fourth  Laird  of 
Galabank.*  Below  the  youngest  is  inscribed,  "  Here  also 
is  interred  the  venerable  father  of  this  numerous  family, 
John  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  Esq.,  the  representative  of 
the  Johnstones  of  Mylnfield  and  Newby  Castle  and  an 
ancient  cadet  of  the  Johnstones  of  Johnstone.  He  died 
Oct.  12,  1774,  aged  86.  'The  hoary  head  is  a  crown  of 
glory,  if  it  be  found  in  the  way  of  Righteousness.' " 

The  eldest  son,  Edward,  was  born  in  1716,  matriculated 
at  Edinburgh  in  1733,  and  as  a  probationer  of  divinity 
preached  several  times  in  the  College  Chapel  before  the 
Professors  when  he  was  still  under  twenty.  After  taking 
his  degree  of  M.A.  in  1739,  he  was  appointed  tutor  to  the 
sons    of   the   Marchioness  of   Annandale   and   her   second 

husband,  Colonel  Johnstone  (the  eldest  of  whom  was  the 


*  Close  to  them  lies  "  ane  honest  memorable  man  callit  George  John- 
stown," who  lived  in  credit  and  commendation,  and  died  in  Christ  in 
the  year  1G48.  Erected  to  the  memory  of  her  good  husband  by  his 
wife,  Agnes  Grahame."    Below  are  the  family  arms. 


180  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

first  Baronet  of  Hackness  Hall),  and  gave  some  instruction 
to  the  sons  of  her  first  marriage,  George,  third  Marquis  of 
Annandale,  and  Lord  John  Johnstone,  residing  alternately 
at  the  Marquis's  seat  of  Comlongan  and  at  Appleby  in 
Westmoreland.  In  1743  he  was  presented  by  the  Marquis 
to  the  living  of  Moffat,  where  he  died  in  1761.  He  pub- 
lished an  essay  on  the  Edinhiirgh  Review,  and  a  volume  of 
sermons,  including  one  on  the  death  of  George  II.  William, 
his  next  brother,  took  the  degree  of  M.D.  at  Edinburgh. 
In  1741  he  sailed  with  the  third  son,  John,  to  Jamaica, 
and  in  a  cruise  among  the  West  Indian  Islands  they  were 
captured  by  the  Spaniards,  and  endured  great  hardships 
while  in  their  hands.  William  died  on  board  ship  very 
soon  after  his  release,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  John 
never  recovered  an  attack  of  fever,  which  deprived  him  of 
his  mental  powers,  though  he  returned  to  Annan  and  lived 
to  the  age  of  seventy. 

The  biography  of  James,  the  fourth  son  of  Johnstone  of 
Galabank,  is  to  be  found  in  histories  of  Worcestershire 
(where  he  practised  as  a  physician  for  fifty  years),  among 
"  Lives  of  Eminent  Scotsmen,"  and  in  periodicals  of  the 
time.  Born  in  1730,  he  matriculated  at  Edinburgh  in 
1746,  and  went  to  France  for  the  completion  of  his  medical 
education.  As  he  stayed  in  Worcestei'shire  on  his  road  to 
Plymouth,  whence  he  embarked  for  Havre,  an  influential 
resident  induced  him  to  make  that  county  the  scene  of  his 
future  career.  From  Havre  he  went  to  Paris,  where  Louis 
XV.,  though  still  but  forty  years  old,  had  quite  lost  his 
early  popularity  ;  and  the  young  man's  observations  on  the 
new  philosophy,  the  extraordinary  licence  of  the  press, 
combined  with  the  tyranny  and  selfishness  of  the  despotic 
government,  in  spite  of  splendid  cliaritable  institutions 
founded  by  the  piety  of  private  individuals,  or  of  earlier 


AND   THE  BORDER  WARS.  181 

monarchs,  foreshadowed  the  great  Revolution  which  thirty- 
nine  years  later  burst  upon  Europe.  But  the  event  of  his 
youth  was  the  invasion  of  Scotland  *  by  Prince  Charles  in 
1743,  though  it  met  with  even  less  sympathy  in  Dumfries- 
shire than  that  of  Prince  James  in  1715.  Bryce  Blair, 
late  Provost  of  Annan,  and  John  Johnstone,  the  actual 
Provost,  each  contributed  £100  to  a  levy  of  £2000  exacted 
by  the  Prince's  army  from  Annandale,  and  many  of  the 
poorer  people  produced  their  few  shillings  or  even  pence 
very  readily,  so  that  £1195  was  collected  in  a  short  time. 
The  Prince  lodged  at  two  houses  in  Dumfries  ;  one  is  the 
Commercial  Hotel,  where  he  held  a  levee  on  his  return 
from  England,  and  the  town  was  fined  £4000  sterling  for 
an  attack  made  in  the  street  on  one  of  the  Prince's  High- 
land followers.  But  on  his  march  southwards  Charles 
went  direct  to  Carlisle,  which  was  feebly  garrisoned  by 
north  country  militia  inclined  to  the  house  of  Stuart,  and 
made  no  resistance.  The  roads  were  so  bad  that  some  of 
the  baggage  waggons  were  left  in  the  mud  near  Ecclefechan, 
and  with  the  soldiers  in  charge  of  them  were  seized  by  a 
large  party  of  citizens  from  Dumfries.  The  prisoners  con- 
sisted of  Highlanders  armed  witli  only  pikes  and  scythe 
blades.  For  this  service,  and  for  the  attitude  of  its 
Provost  (Corsane),  Dumfries  received  some  confiscated 
estates  from  the  Government. 

When  the  Jacobite  army  was  returning  discomfited  from 

*  "Those  engaged  in  war,  "said  Monthieu,  quoted  by  Scott,  "have  much 
occasion  for  the  mercy  of  the  Deity,  since  in  the  exercise  of  their  pro- 
fession they  are  led  to  become  guilty  of  so  much  violence  towards  their 
fellow-creatures."  This  might  well  be  quoted  by  a  Scotsman.  The 
horrors  that  disgraced  the  triumph  over  the  Jacobite  rebellion  recall 
the  earlier  wars  with  England  when  instances  of  cannibalism  were 
known,  for  in  174G  we  hear  of  Highland  peasant  women  with  their 
children  begging  for  the  offal  of  the  bullocks  requisitioned  by  the 
soldiery— the  fathers,  whether  in  arms  or  otherwise,  having  all  been 
killed.  It  was  these  wars  which  made  Scotland,  once  beautifully 
wooded,  the  barest  country  in  Europe. 


182  THE    HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Derby  a  band  of  volunteers  undertook  to  guard  the  bridge 
at  Annan  over  which  it  must  cross,  and  also  to  intercept  it 
at  the  Esk,  but  fled  at  the  first  sound  of  the  pibroch.  This 
is  described  by  young  James  Johnstone,  who  was  then 
fifteen,  and  in  expectation  of  his  father's  horses  being 
requisitioned  he  took  them  across  the  whole  front  of  the 
vanguard  of  Pi'ince  Charles's  cavalry,  commanded  by  Lord 
Kilmarnock,  which  suddenly  drew  up  on  the  evening  of 
December  21,  1745,  to  encamp  for  the  night  before  the 
Laird  of  Galabank's  house,  and  he  conveyed  them  by  the 
bridge  to  Limekilns,  a  distance  of  some  miles,  not  being 
stopped,  rather  to  his  surprise.  "  I  did  in  thoughtless 
youth,"  he  writes,  "what  perhaps  with  some  design  would 
have  failed.  I  saved  the  horses,  and  returned  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  saw  the  clans  march  through  Annandale  to  Dum- 
fries. Prince  Charles  walked  at  the  head  of  the  clan 
Macpherson,  which  defeated  the  Duke  of  Cumberland's 
horse  in  a  skirmish,  and  gave  some  check  to  the  advance 
of  the  troops.  He  was  a  tall,  well  made  young  man;  his 
deportment  affable  and  princely.  When  the  army  crossed 
the  Esk  the  river  was  flooded,  and  the  Highlanders  had  to 
ford  it,  nearly  100  packed  togetlier  to  avoid  being  carried 
away  by  the  stream.  Prince  Charles  took  one  of  them  on 
his  own  horse,  and  desired  the  officers  to  do  the  same." 
The  Highlanders  danced  a  reel  to  dry  themselves. 

Limekilns  was  owned  by  a  staunch  adherent  of  the  house 
of  Hanover — Carlile  of  Bridekirk.  While  the  Prince's 
army  was  encamped  close  to  Annan  some  of  his  High- 
landers went  to  carouse  in  the  Queensberry  Arms,  the  only 
inn  in  the  place,  and  heard  Mr  Carlile  express  his  opinion 
very  freely  on  the  respective  merits  of  King  George  and  of 
their  young  leader.  They  arrested  him,  and  took  him  a 
prisoner  to  Glasgow.     He  asked  for  an  interview  witli  the 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  183 

Prince,  and  told  him  all  that  had  happened,  when  the 
unfortunate  Charies  replied — "  Sir,  I  commend  you  for  it, 
and  if  some  of  my  pretended  followers  had  been  so  firm  in 
my  cause  as  you  are  to  George,  I  now  should  have  been  on 
the  throne  of  my  fathers."  Having  said  this  the  Prince  let 
him  go.  The  incident  reached  the  ears  of  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  who  was  on  his  road  to  the  north  to  attack 
the  Prince's  army,  and  he  at  once  sent  for  Mr  Carlile  and 
offered  to  relieve  him  of  the  heavy  debt  on  his  estate  if  he 
would  assist  him  with  all  the  information  he  could ;  but  to 
the  great  distress  of  Mr  Carlile's  nearest  relations,  he  refused 
even  to  meet  the  Duke.  His  estate  passed  out  of  the 
hands  of  his  family  owing  to  the  general  ruin  caused  by 
the  failure  of  the  local  banks  after  the  insurrection  was 
suppressed. 

In  1751  James  Johnstone,  an  M.D.  of  Edinburgh  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  settled  in  Worcestershire,  for  as  a  younger 
son  he  had  little  hope  of  inheriting  the  family  estate.  After 
meeting  Prince  Charles  in  his  youth  he  was  presented  with 
his  sons  to  George  III.  in  his  mature  age,  when  his  Majesty 
and  Queen  Charlotte  came  to  Worcester  for  the  triennial 
musical  festival  in  1788.  The  letters  from  Scotland  to  the 
young  physician  give  a  pleasant  picture  of  his  paternal 
home.  Although  devoted  to  his  profession  he  found  time 
to  return  there,  and  to  superintend  replanting  the  Gala- 
bank  estate.  A  neighbour,  who  had  been  to  Worcester, 
writes  from  Annan — "  I  saw  old  Galabank  standing  like 
Boaz  among  his  reapers,  and  Mrs  Johnstone  and  Mrs 
Murray  came  out  to  speak  to  me.  They  particularly  asked 
after  little  master  James."  This  "  little  James  "  was 
at  his  grandfather's  in  1769  while  a  dispute  was  going  on 
about  enclosing  a  common,  which  in  1771  led  to  the  case  of 
"  The   Magistrates   of    the   Burgh    of  Annan    against    the 


184  THE  HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Marquis  of  Annandale,  Carruthers  of  Holmains,  Johnstone 
of  Galabank,"  &c.  In  his  letters  home  he  mentions  Irving 
the  Apothecary,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  the  celebrated 
preacher  Edward  Irving,  and  a  tenant  of  Galabank,  and 
Clapperton,  a  surgeon  in  Annan,  the  father  of  the  traveller 
Hugh,  who  was  born  there  in  1788. 

The  Laird's  fifth  daughter,  Isabella,  married  John  Adam 
Murray  of  Belridding,  but  was  early  left  a  widow  and 
returned  to  her  father's  house,  where  her  daughter  married 
James  Lockhart  of  Lee  and  Carnwath,  a  Lieutenant  General 
in  the  Austrian  army  and  a  Count  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire.  Count  Lockhart  was  afterwards  made  Viceroy  of 
the  Netherlands  (then  an  Austrian  province).*  In  the 
memoirs  of  Madame  D'Oberkirch,  an  ex-governess  of  the 
grand  Duchess,  afterwards  Empress  of  Russia,  she  describes 
a  visit  she  paid  in  1782,  with  her  old  pupil,  accompanied 
by  the  grand  Duke,  afterwards  the  Emperor  Paul,  to 
Utrecht,  where  they  were  entertained  by  Lady  Lockhart. 
The  Lockharts,  she  adds,  "are  an  ancient  Scotch  family,  of 
whom  one  member  was  the  Ambassador  from  Cromwell  to 
the  Court  of  France.  The  Grand  Duke,  who  is  very  well 
informed,  did  not  fail  to  make  a  delicate  allusion  to  this 
personage." 

Count  Lockhart  served  in  the  last  war  which  Austria 
ever  waged  against  the  Turks.  He  was  a  Knight  of  the 
Order  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  a  Lord  of  the  Bedchamber  to 
the  Emperor  Joseph  II.  ;  but  on  the  death  of  a  brother,  he 
inherited  the  family  estates  in  Scotland.  Mrs  Lockhart 
Avas  presented  at  the  Court  of  Vienna  by  her  cousin.  Lord 
Stormont,  the  British  Ambassador,  and  the  Emperor 
Joseph  II.  stood  in  person  as  sponsor  at  the  baptism  of  her 
eldest  son. 

*  He  left  Scotland,  having  joined  Prince  Charles,  in  1745. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


185 


Charles  Count  Wishart  Lockhart  inherited  his  father's 
title,  and  died  in  1802.  Sir  Simon  Lockhart  is  the  present 
male  representative  of  the  family.  General  Lockhart's 
daughter,  Maryanne  Matilda,  was  married  to  Anthony 
Aufrere,  Esq.,  of  Hoveton,  Co.  York.  In  the  autobiography 
of  James  Johnstone  (1730-1802)  he  wi'ites  of  this  niece,  "  I 
learn  that  she  gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  November  17,  1762, 


^m 


m 


COMLONGAX. 


at  Heidelberg,  and  that  the  child  was  named  Louisa  Anna 
Matilda,  after  Louisa  a  Princess  of  Prussia,  who  with  Mrs 
Aufrere,  her  mother-in-law,  are  to  be  godmothers." 

Adam  Johnstone,  the  Laird  of  Galabank's  fifth  son,  was 
born  February  27,  1732,  and  received  a  commission  in  the 
Scotch  Brigade,  which  embarked  at  Aberdeen  for  Hanover, 
during  the  seven  years  war  carried  on  between  the  Empress 
Maria  Theresa,  and  Frederick  the  Great.     The  British  con- 


186  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

tingent  was  placed  under  the  command  of  the  hereditary 
Prince  of  Brunswick,  in  an  unsuccessful  battle  near  Wesel, 
October,  1760,  where  Adam  Johnstone  received  wounds 
which  caused  his  death  a  few  days  afterwards.  The 
youngest  son,  Richard,  was  a  Writer  to  the  Signet,  and 
died  in  London  at  the  age  of  28. 

The  bills  for  old  Galabank's  funeral  in  1774  are  curious 
as  showing  the  difference  in  prices  at  the  present  time. 
Painting  an  escutcheon  to  put  over  the  house  door  cost  one 
pound  ten  shillings,  and  the  frame  four  shillings  and  six- 
pence. The  funeral  luncheon,  which  was  held  at  the  Queens- 
berry  Arms,  the  only  hotel  in  Annan,  consisted  of  a  leg  of 
roast  mutton,  a  pigeon  pie,  fish  and  flounders,  veal  cutlets, 
chicken,  ham,  and  tarts,  for  sixteen  gentlemen  and  four 
ladies,  and  cost  one  guinea,  exclusive  of  wine;  ten  tenants 
dined  in  another  room  for  five  shillings,  and  the  porter  tliey 
all  drank  also  cost  five  shillings.  His  son  James  inherited 
his  estate,  but  continued  to  live  in  Worcester.  He  was  the 
author  of  nineteen  medical  works  and  a  classical  book, 
"Dialogues  of  the  Dead,"  published  when  a  very  young 
man,  besides  his  autobiography  and  several  letters  and 
essays.  He  is  mentioned  in  "Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets" 
as  the  writer  of  "  a  very  affecting  and  instructing  account " 
of  the  last  illness  of  George  Lord  Lyttleton,  the  friend  of 
Pope  and  Thomson,  and  according  to  the  second  Lord 
Lyttleton  he  was  both  his  father's  physician  and  confessor. 
His  eldest  son,  James,  practised  as  a  physician  in  Wor- 
cester, having  graduated  at  the  Edinburgh  University, 
where  he  was  a  frequent  guest  at  Dryden,  General  Lock- 
hart's  house ;  and  later,  when  his  cousin  and  her  husband 
returned  to  Austria,  his  second  brother,  Edward,  passed  a 
month  with  them  at  the  vice-regal  residence.  In  Howard's 
"  State  of  English  Prisons,"  he  writes  of  the  death  of  young 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  187 

James  Johnstone,  who  had  volunteered  gratuitously  to 
attend  some  prisoners  in  Worcester  gaol  when  an  outbreak 
of  fever  had  caused  a  panic  through  the  city.  "  In  the 
course  of  my  pursuits  I  have  known  several  amiable  young 
gentlemen  who,  in  their  zeal  to  do  good,  have  been  carried 
off  by  that  dreadful  disorder,  the  gaol  fever,  and  this  has 
been  one  incentive  to  my  endeavours  for  its  extirpation 
out  of  our  prisons.  I  shall  mention  one  affecting  instance 
which  happened  here  (Worcester)  of  a  young  physician 
falling  a  sacrifice  to  this  distemper  through  a  benevolent 
attention  to  some  prisoners  afflicted  with  it — Dr  Johnstone, 
junior,  of  Worcester  (1783).  He  attained  at  an  early  period 
to  great  and  deserved  eminence  in  his  pi'ofession,  and  will 
be  ever  regretted  as  a  physician  of  great  ability  and  genius, 
and  as  one  of  the  most  pleasing  and  benevolent  of  men, 
prematurely  snatched  from  his  friends  and  country." 

The  Galabank  and  Westerhall  families  were  then,  as  they 
had  been  earlier,  on  very  friendly  terms.  Sir  William 
Pulteney,  the  brother  of  Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Westei'- 
hall,  presented  Dr  Johnstone's  second  son,  Thomas,  Rector 
of  Fisherton  Anger,  to  the  livings  of  Aston  Botterill,  Salop, 
and  Hope  Bagot,  Wilts,  in  the  days  when  pluralism  was 
allowed,  and  Dr  Johnstone,  as  ardent  a  politician  as  himself, 
gave  him  much  aid  in  electioneering.  George  Johnstone, 
Sii-  William's  younger  brothei',  and  the  father  of  Sir  John 
Lowther  Johnstone,  was  for  some  years  Governor  of  Florida, 
and  died  at  Bristol,  May  24,  1787.  His  sister-in-law, 
writing  to  inform  Dr  Johnstone  of  the  event,  speaks  of  him 
as  "my  brother  and  your  relation.  Governor  Johnstone." 

Although  Dr  Johnstone  had  hoped  to  end  his  days  in 
Annandale,  where  the  death  of  three  brothers  (the  last  in 
1792)  gave  him  possession  of  Galabank,  the  cares  of  a  very 
large  family  and   of  orphan   grandchildren    kept    him    in 


188  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

England  till  his  death  in  1802,  aged  72.  A  marble  tablet 
to  his  memory,  with  a  Latin  inscription  composed  by  the 
Rev.  Dr  Parr,  in  Worcester  Cathedral,  is  placed  under  a 
similar  monument  to  his  eldest  sou.  His  grandson  and 
heir,  James,  only  survived  him  three  years,  so  that  his  third 
son,  Edward,  born  in  1757,  became  the  head  of  his  house; 
but  owing  to  a  family  dispute  he  bequeathed  his  Scottisli 
property  to  his  sixth  son,  John,  whose  name  appears  in 
biographical  dictionaries  as  the  author  of  the  "  Life  of  Dr 
Samuel  Parr,  D.D."  Hence  the  Scottish  estate  of  Gala- 
bank,  the  last  remnant  left  to  them  of  the  barony  of 
Annandale,  of  which  it  had  once  formed  a  part,  has  passed 
into  a  female  branch ;  and  on  succeeding  his  father  (1851), 
Dr  Edward  Johnstone  of  Edgbaston  Hall,  who  had  lived  to 
the  age  of  94,  the  late  Mr  Edward  Johnstone  inherited 
some  English  property  in  Worcestershire  and  Warwick- 
shire, but  not  the  lands  of  his  Scottish  ancestors,  which 
they  owned  in  the  15th  century.  He  was  a  fellow  com- 
moner and  M.A.  of  Trin.  Coll.,  and  a  member  of  the  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Club,  Pall  Mall,  having  for  many  years  also 
belonged  to  the  Reform,  and  been  called  to  the  Bar  in 
1833,  but  never  practised.  In  1830-1  the  result  of  the 
Polish  Revolution  brought  many  exiles  to  this  country,  and 
led  to  the  formation  of  tlie  Literary  Association  of  the 
Friends  of  Poland,  under  the  presidency  of  the  poet  Camp- 
bell, which  was  joined  by  the  late  Lord  Dudley  Stuart,  the 
late  Lord  Ilchester,  Mr  Edward  Johnstone,  and  others,  who 
charitably  devoted  time  and  means  to  alleviate  the  condition 
of  the  refugees.  Mr  Johnstone — an  intimate  friend  of  the 
late  Prince  Adam  Czartoriski — took  the  warmest  interest 
in  their  welfare,  and  Major  Sczulchewski  was  sent  to  repi^e- 
sent  the  Society  at  his  funeral  in  Worcester,  September  23, 
1881.       He  was    never   married,   and    his   eldest    nephew, 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  189 

Colonel  Sir  James  Johnstone,  K.C.S.I.,  inherited  his  estates 
at  Dunsley  Manor  and  Fvdford  Hall. 

The  Annandale  crest,  the  spur  and  wings,  is  carved  on 
the  face  of  the  Queen's  College,  Birmingham,  in  memory  of 
the  great  interest  which  Dr  Edward  Johnstone  of  Edgbaston 
Hall,*  his  younger  son  James,  and  his  brother  John  took 
in  its  rise  and  progress  from  a  provincial  school  of  medicine 
to  one  of  the  most  important  medical  colleges  in  the  empire. 
The  same  may  be  said,  though  their  crest  does  not  denote 
it,  of  King  Edward's  School,  the  General  Hospital,  and 
other  benevolent  institutions  in  that  literary  and  scientific 
town.  There,  close  to  the  site  of  the  foundation-stone  of 
the  Courts  of  Law  laid  by  Queen  Victoria  in  the  year  of 
her  jubilee,  and  in  what  was  then  the  Old  Square,  James 
Johnstone,  M.D.  of  Trin.  Coll.,  F.R.C.P.  (born  at  Edgbaston 
Hall,  1806  ;  died  at  Leamington,  1869),  long  resided,  and 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  promotion  of  education  in  all 
its  branches  and  other  public  works  within  the  Midland 
Metropolis.  Besides  essays  and  pamphlets,  he  published 
two  works  on  sensation  and  materia  medica.  He  married 
Maria  Mary  Payne,  daughter  of  J.  "Webster,  J. P.,  of  Penns, 
Co.  Warwick,  and  by  her  (who  died  in  1859)  he  left  five 
sons  and  seven  daughters.  The  surviving  sons  are — Colonel 
Sir  James  Johnstone,!  K.C.S.I.,  born  1811 ;  married  Emma 
Mary,  daughter  of  S.  Lloyd,  Esq.,  late  M.P.  for  Plymouth, 

*  Dr  Edward  Johnstone  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  late 
Thomas  Pearson,  Esq.  of  Tettenhall,  Stafford.  She  died  1823.  He 
was  the  first  hon.  president  of  the  Queen's  College,  Birmingham,  being 
succeeded  by  the  late  Lord  Lyttleton. 

+  Late  Political  Agent  at  Manipur.  He  received  special  commenda- 
tion in  1879  for  his  prompt  relief  on  his  own  responsibility  of  the  head- 
quarters station  at  Kohima,  where  nearly  500  British  subjects,  including 
English  ladies  and  children,  were  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  for  want 
of  water,  it  having  been  surrounded  for  a  fortnight  by  6000  Naga  savages. 
He  performed  a  somewhat  similar  feat  during  the  Burmese  war  in  1885-0 
to  rescue  three  Englishmen  and  250  British  native  subjects  isolated  on 
the  Chindwin  river;  and  he  was  severely  wounded  in  the  same  campaign. 


190  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

and  has  issue.  She  died  in  1883 — Edward  settled  in 
Canada— Charles,  Captain  R.N.,  of  Graitney,  Surrey,  com- 
manded H.M.S.  Dryad  at  Madagascar,  1883 ;  married  Janet, 
daughter  of  the  late  G.  Schonswar,  Esq.,  J.P.,  D.L.,  formerly 
M.P.  for  Hull,  and  has  issue — Richard,  in  holy  orders  ; 
married  Imogen,  daughter  of  the  late  W.  H.  Molesworth, 
Esq.,  and  has  issue.  Of  the  younger  sons  of  Dr  James 
Johnstone  of  Worcester,  fifth  laird  of  Galabank— Henry, 
fourth  son,  a  colonel  in  the  army,  who  had  seen  some 
service  in  India  and  Gibraltar;  died  at  Edgbaston,  1812. 
John,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  died  1836,  leaving  two  daughters. 
The  elder  married  the  late  Very  Rev.  W.  F.  Hook,  Dean 
of  Chichester,  and  left  issue ;  the  younger  now  owns  Gala- 
bank.  Lockhart,  the  youngest  son,  barrister-at-law.  Senior 
Bencher  of  Gray's  Inn,  and  Conrnissioner  in  Bankruptcy, 
died  January,  1861,  aged  90,  at  his  house  in  the  Tything, 
Worcester,  leaving  John  —  William,  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
H.E.I.C.S. ;  died  1887— and  two  daughters. 

James,  second  Marquis  of  Annandale,  hoping  to  exclude 
his  half-brothers,  made  a  disposition  of  his  estates  in  1726 
in  favour  of  his  nephew,  John  Lord  Hope,  failing  whom,  to 
the  descendants  of  his  father's  sisters,  failing  whom,  to 
Colonel  James  Johnstone  of  Graitney,  a  cadet  of  his  house. 
Colonel  James  Johnstone  was  Provost  of  Lochmaben  in 
1725.  He  was  descended  direct  from  George,  the  eldest 
son  of  William  Johnstone  of  Newbie  and  Graitney,  and  it 
was  not  then  generally  known,  nor  till  the  recent  inquiries 
into  the  pedigree  necessitated  by  the  claim  of  the  late  Mr 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Fulford  Hall  to  the  dormant  titles  of 
Annandale,  that  this  George  was  not  born  a  legitimate  son, 
so  that  the  descendants  of  John,  his  younger,  but  legitimate 
lialf-brother,  who  inlierited  Newbie,  constituted  the  elder 
branch.     Colonel  Johnstone  of  Graitney  assumed  the  name 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS. 


191 


of  Ruthven  on  his  marriage  with  Isabella,  Baroness  Ruthven 
in  her  own  right.  She  died  in  1730,  leaving  a  son  James, 
fourth  Baron  Ruthven,  whose  grandson  James,  sixth 
Baron,  dying  without  heirs,  his  sister  Mary  Elizabeth, 
whose  grandson  is  the  present  peer,  succeeded  to  the 
Ruthven  barony. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

The   Presbyterian    Kirk — Intolerant  Measures — Charles  I. 

AND    THE    DeSPOILERS    OF    THE    ChLTRCH — ThE     EaRL    OF   BUC- 

cleuch — The  Duke  and  Marquis  of  Queenseerry — Provosts 
and  Bailies  of  Dumfries  —  Stewards  Depute  —  Registers 
of  Dumfries. 

I  F  the  Roman  Church  in  Scotland  had  been  too  lax  in  its 
^  discipline  and  practice,  the  same  fault  could  not  be 
found  with  the  Presbyterian  ;*  and  in  Dumfries  the  Kirk 
Courts  ruled  with  a  severity  and  interference  in  domestic 
afiairs  during  the  17th  and  18th  centuries  which  was  hardly 
exceeded  by  the  Inquisition  in  Italy  and  Spain.  In  16.59 
nine  old  women  were  burned  together  for  witchcraft, 
and  even  so  late  as  1709  a  woman  was  consigned  to  the 
flames  for  the  same  alleged  crime.  Slander,  Sabbath- 
breaking,  swearing,  drinking,  and  tale-bearing  were  pun- 
ished by  fines,  whipping,  the  pillory,  and  sometimes  very 
eccentric  penances.  A  Roman  priest,  in  1626,  was  recog- 
nised crossing  the  bridge  at  Dumfries.  He  was  stopped, 
but  favoured  by  sympathisers  in  the  crowd  contrived  to 
make  his  escape,  while  the  vestments,  altar  books,  and 
sacred  vessels  which  he  had  with  him  in  a  bag  were  seized 
and  burned  at  the  Market  Cross.  The  same  was  done  with 
the  property  of  another  priest  in  1658.  It  was  forbidden 
to  send  a  boy  out  of  the  country  to  be  educated  in  a  foreign 

*  A  curious  letter  exists  (1560),  signed  by  Argyll,  James  Stewart 
(Regent),  and  Ruthven,  ordering  the  altars  and  figiu-es  of  saints  to  be 
turned  out  of  the  "  Kyrk  of  Dunkeld,"  and  bi'oken  u^x 


THE   BORDER   WARS.  193 

school ;  and  in  1631  the  Privy  Council  even  ordered  the  son 
of  Lord  Nithsdale  to  be  taken  from  him  and  educated  as  a 
Protestant.  In  1628  Herbert  Maxwell  of  Kirkconnel  ; 
Gilbert  Brown,  formerly  Abbot  of  Sweet  Heart  or  New- 
abbey  ;  his  brother  Charles ;  John  Williamson  in  Loch- 
maben,  and  other  influential  people  were  ordered  to  be 
tried  for  "  Papistry."  Sir  William  Grierson  of  Lag  and 
Sir  John  Charteris  of  Amisfield  succeeded  in  arresting  the 
ex- Abbot  and  his  brother,  whereupon  their  adherents  sub- 
jected the  Protestant  minister  of  Newabbey  and  his  family 
to  ill-usage.  In  1647  Lord  Herries  outwardly  conformed 
to  Presbytei'ianism. 

The  Scottish  Lyon  Oflice,  with  its  contents,  having  been 
burned  in  the  last  century,  and  the  law  being  strict  in  pro- 
hibiting the  use  of  armorial  bearings  unless  properly  regis- 
tered, most  of  the  Scottish  families  matriculated  their  arms 
again.  The  Johnstones  of  Galabank  registered  theirs  in 
1772,  and  were  recorded  as  belonging  to  "  the  family  of 
Newby,  an  ancient  cadet  of  the  Johnstones  of  Johnstone." 
Although  the  tombs  of  their  family  of  the  date  of  1649, 
1692,  and  1726  bore  the  arms  of  Johnstone  of  that  Ilk 
without  a  difference,  the  arms  of  Johnstone  of  Galabank 
were  registered  with  a  wavy  saltire  as  a  mark  of  cadency, 
the  last  Marquis  of  Annandale  being  still  living ;  but  the 
late  Mr  Edward  Johnstone,  wishing  to  restore  them  to  the 
style  borne  by  his  direct  ancestors,  re-matriculated  in  1870. 
The  last  Marquis  died  in  1792,  when  his  estates  passed  to 
his  niece,  married  to  Sir  William  Hope,  who  took  the  name 
of  Johnstone,  and  their  descendant,  Mr  Hope-Johnstone 
(born  1842),  now  owns  the  ancient  barony  of  Annandale. 
His  brother,  Percy  Alexander,  late  Captain  60th  Rifles, 
born  1845,  is  his  heir.  He  married  his  cousin,  Evelyn 
Anne,  and  has  issue. 

13 


194  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

In  Sir  "William  Pulteney,  the  Westerhall  family  produced 
one  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  of  the  last  century,  and  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  House  of  Commons.  He 
married  the  heiress  of  William  Pulteney,  Earl  of  Bath,  and 
took  her  name.  As  he  left  only  a  daughter,  Henrietta 
Laura,  created  Countess  of  Bath  in  1792,  his  baronetcy  of 
Westerhall  devolved  in  1803  on  his  nephew,  Sir  John 
Lowther  Johnstone,  the  grandfather  of  the  present  baronet. 
The  heir  to  Sir  Frederick  John  William  Johnstone  is  his 
twin  brother.  Colonel  George  Keppel  Johnstone,  born  in 
1841.  He  married  Agnes,  daughter  of  Mr  Thomas  Cham- 
berlayne,  and  has  issue. 

There  was  no  minister  at  Annan  or  Graitney  till  about 
1612,  when  Mr  Symon  Johnstone  was  appointed  to  Annan, 
and  remained  there  many  years.  Chai"les  I.  made  enemies 
of  the  Scottish  landowners  in  Dumfriesshire  as  in  other 
parts  of  Scotland  by  depriving  them  of  a  portion  of  their 
tithes,  which  they  exacted  from  their  tenants  with  far 
greater  severity  than  had  been  exercised  by  the  old  abbots, 
to  whom  their  lands  had  in  many  instances  belonged  ;  and 
although,  when  they  received  these  lands,  it  had  been  with 
the  stipulation  that  they  should  maintain  the  Parish  Kirks 
this  was  often  done  very  inadequately.  The  Johnstones 
and  the  Irvings  of  Bonshaw  and  Robgill  supported  Charles, 
while  those  noblemen  whom  his  predecessors  had  enriclied 
with  church  lands  generally  supported  the  Covenanters, 
particularly  the  Earl  of  Buccleuch;  for  Charles  had  reversed 
the  attainder  of  Stewai't,  Earl  of  Bothwell,  which  compelled 
Buccleuch  to  restore  some  of  the  forfeited  lands  he  liad 
received  from  James  I.  The  barbarity  of  the  Covenanters 
in  killing  the  wounded  and  executing  their  prisoners  is  a 
matter  of  history,  and  their  subsequent  triumph  ensured 
the  predominance  of  Presbyterianism. 


AND   THE  BORDER  WARS.  195 

In  1706  the  representative  of  the  Douglases,  the  Duke 
of  Queensberry,  was  the  largest  proprietor  in  Dumfriesshire. 
His  title  and  estates  have  now  passed  into  a  female  branch 
represented  by  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  but  his  nearest  male 
collaterals,  the  Douglases  of  Kelhead,  succeeded  to  the  titles 
of  Marquis  of  Queensberry  and  Viscount  Torthorell.  The 
present  owner  of  them  has  lately  sold  all  his  estates  in 
Annandale. 


MEMBERS  FOR  DUMFRIESSHIRE 

AND  THE 

BURGHS  OF  DUMFRIES,  LOCHMABEN,  ANNAN,  AND 

SANQUHAR. 

An  Act  of  1427  ordained  that  "  the  small  barons  and  free  tenants 
need  not  come  to  Parliament  nor  general  counsels,  so  that  of  each 
sheriffdom  there  be  two  or  three  wise  men  chosen  at  the  head  conrt 
of  the  sheriffdom,  according  to  its  size."  In  1537  another  Act 
ordered  the  barons  to  choose  one  or  two  of  the  wisest  and  most 
qualified  to  be  Commissioners  for  the  whole  shire.  In  1587  repre- 
sentation was  limited  to  those  who  held  "  a  forty  shilling  land  in 
free  tenantry  of  the  King. "  The  Parliaments  sat  at  Scone,  Perth, 
Stirling,  or  Edinburgh,  and  the  Members  voted  as  one  Chamber, 
there  being  no  division  into  an  Upper  and  Lower  House. 

Thos.  Lang— 1357. 

Welch— 1452. 

Robert  MacBriar— 1469. 

Nicolas  MacBriar — 1504. 

Herbert  Rany— 1572. 

Patrick  MacBriar— 1579. 

Archibald  MacBriar — 1581.  (The  same  year  a  Dumfriesshire 
man,  John  Johnstone,  merchant  in  Edinburgh,  sat  for 
that  city.  He  was  fourth  son  of  John,  Laird  of  Newbie  ; 
married  Janet  Hunter;  died  in  1601,  leaving  a  son,  John, 
who  settled  at  Bordeaux,  and  a  daughter,  Helen,  married 
to  Hugh  Dunbar,  Writer  to  the  Signet. ) 


196  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

Robert  Cunninghame — 1583. 

John  Maxwell — 1585. 

Sir  Thomas  Kirkpatrick — 1593.  (He  was  knighted  and  made 
a  gentleman  of  the  Privy  Chamber  by  James  VL  He 
fought  on  the  side  of  Lord  Maxwell  at  the  battle  of  Dryfe 
Sands,  and  married  Barbara  Stewart,  daughter  of  Sir 
Alexander  Stewart  of  Garlies,  1614.) 

Robert  Johnstone,  Brigholme  and  Newbie,  Provost  of  Annan 
(brother  to  the  M.P.  for  Edinburgh)~1598. 

Sir  J.  Bos  well  of  Auchinleck — 1599. 

Herbert  Cunningham—  1600-1612. 

James  Cunningham — 1605. 

William  Maxwell— 1612. 

David  Millar— 1612. 

Francis  Irving— 1617-25.  (A  monument  exists  to  him  in 
Annan  Churchyard.) 

Sir  William  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig,  Steward  of  Aunan- 
dale— 1617. 

Sir  Wm.  Grierson  of  Lag — 1617-25. 

John  Corsell — 1617. 

Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  and  Newbie— 1627-28-33. 

Sir  John  Charteris— 1621-25,  28-33. 

NicoU  Cunningham — 1621. 

John  Crichton  of  Rayhill— 1628-33. 

Robert  MacBriar,  Laird  of  Almagill— 1630-46-4:7-48. 

William  Fergusson — 1640-41. 

Thomas  Kirkpatrick  of  Closeburn — 1639-41.  (In  ca?e  of 
absence  Sir  John  Charteris  of  Amisfield,  his  father-in- 
law.) 

Sir  John  Charteris — 1639-41.  (He  married  a  daughter  of 
William  Crichton,  Earl  of  Dumfries. ) 

John  Corsane— 1621-28  33. 

John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield  and  Galabank— 1640-42,  1644-47. 

Homer  Murray — 1643. 

John  Irving— 1630-39-41. 

George  Johnstone  of  Galabank — 1644-46-47. 

Lawrence  Davidson — 1643-49. 

Cuthbert  Cunninghame,  Advocate — 1643. 

John  Kennedy — 1643. 

John  Laurie — 1643. 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  197 

John  Henderson— 1645-47-48-61-63. 

William  Douglas— 1644-48-49. 

Sir  Alexander  Jardine — 1645-46. 

Robert  Fergusson  of  Craigdarroch — 1649-50-51  61-63-65-67- 

69-72-78. 
John  Fergusson — 1649. 
William  Crichton— 1645-47. 
Sir  James  Douglas — 1644-49-50-51. 

Sir  William  Douglas  (created  Earl  of  Queensberry) — 1647. 
Sir  James  Johnstone  (created  Earl  of  Annandale,  &c. ) — 1654-56. 
Jeremy  Tolhurst- 1654-55,  59-60. 
James  Douglas  of  Mouswald — 1649-50-51. 
James  Crichton,  Sheriifof  Dumfries — 1661-63. 
John  Williamson — 1661-63.. 

Robert  Carmichael,  Provost  of  Sanquhar — 1665-67-69-72-78 
81-82. 

William  Graham  of  Blaatwood— 1669-72. 

James  Carruthers,  Provost  of  Annan— 1681-82. 
John  Irving — 1661-65-67-69-74. 

Hugh  Sinclair  of  Inglistoune — 1661-3,  1665-7. 

David  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  Bailie  of  Annan — 1678. 

Sir  Robert  Dalziell— 1667-69-74-81-82-85-86. 

William  Craig,  Provost  of  Dumfries — 1678-81-82. 

Sir  John  Dalziell— 1686-S9-90. 

Sir  Thos.  Kirkpatrick— 1690-1702. 

Tliomas  Kennedy-  1685-86-89  to  1695. 

John  Boswell— 1689-92. 

Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Westerhall — 1689-1700. 

James  Johnstone  of  Corehead  —  1G90-93. 

John  Johnstone  of  Elsiechellis,  Bailie  of  Lochmaben — 1665 
67-69-74-81-82.     (Provost.) 

John  Sharp  of  Collistoun — 1686. 

Robert  Johnstone  — 1695-1702-7. 

William  Crichton— 1690  till  1702. 

Alexander  Johnstone  of  Elsiechellis — 1693-1702. 

Alex.  Bruce— 1692-1702  (expelled). 

William  Alves— 1702-7. 

Sir  William  Johnstone  of  Westerhall— 1698  to  1722. 

Alexander  Fergusson — 1702-7. 

James  Lord  Johnstone — 1708. 


198  THE   HISTORICAL    FAMILIES 

Sir  John  Johnstone  of  Westerhall  1700-S. 
William  Paterson,  founder  of  the  Bank  of  England  and  pro- 
jector of  the  Darien  Scheme — 1708. 

Mr  Sharp  of  Hoddam— 1702-7. 

SirWm.  Grierson— 1709— 11. 

Dr  John  Hutton,  M.D.,  of  Padua — 1710-13.     (He  accompanied 

William  III.  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne. ) 
Alexander  Fergusson — 1715-22. 
William  Douglas  of  Cavers— 1722-27. 
Charles  Erskine  of  Barjarg — 1722-41. 
Hon.  James  Murray — 1711-13. 
Sir  J.  Douglas — 1735-47. 
Wm.  Kirkpatrick— 1736-8. 
Sir  Robert  Laurie — 1738-41, 
Lord  John  Johnstone  (elected  under  age) — 1741.     (Died  in 

1743.) 
Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Westerhall,  Provost  of  Lochmaben — 

1743-54. 
James  Veitch — 1755-60. 

Charles  Douglas,  Earl  of  Drumlanrig — 1747-54. 
William  Douglas  of  Kelhead— 1768-80. 
Thomas  Miller,  Lord  Advocate — 1761-66. 
James  Montgomery — 1766-68. 

General  Archibald  Douglas  of  Kirkton— 1754-61-68-74. 
Sir  R.  Herries— 1780-84. 

Sir  James  Johnstone  of  Westerhall — 1784-90. 
Capt.  Patrick  Miller— 1790-6. 

COUNTY. 

General  Sir  R.  Laurie— 1774-1804. 

Vice- Admiral  Sir  Wm.  J.  Hope— 1804-30. 

Viscount  Drumlanrig  (late  Marquis  of  Queensberry) — 1847-57. 

John  J.  Hope-Johnstone  of  Raehills — 1830-47,  57-65. 

Colonel  Walker  of  Crawfordton— 1865-68,  69-74. 

Sir  S.  Waterlow— 1868. 

John  J.  Hope-Johnstone — 1874-80. 

Sir  Robert  Jardine  of  Castlemilk — 1880,  et  seq. 


AND   THE  BORDER   WARS.  199 

BCRGHS. 

Hon.  A.  Hope— 1796-1834. 

Vice-Admiral  Sir  Wm.  Johnstone  Hope— 1800-2. 

Right  Hon.  Charles  Hope— 1802-3. 

Viscount  Stopford— 1803-6. 

Sir  J.  Heron  Maxwell— 1807. 

Lord  Wm.  Robt.  K.  Douglas— 1812-32. 

General  Matthew  Sharpe  of  Hoddam— 1833-41. 

Wm.  Ewart— 1847-68. 

Sir  Robert  Jardine  of  Castlemilk—  1868-74. 

Ernest  Noel— 1874-86. 

R.  T.  Reid,  Q.C.— 1886. 


PROVOSTS  OF  DUMFRIES  DOWN  TO  1700. 

Robert  Macbriar — 1469. 
T.  Welsh— 1471. 
Robert  Macbriar — 1472. 
Robert  Macbriar — 1.549. 
John  Macbriar — 1552. 
Archibald  Macbriar — 1570. 
Herbert  Rayning — 1572. 
Archibald  Macbriar — 1575. 
Robert  Macbriar — 1578. 
Robert  Macbriar — 1579. 
Archibald  Macbriar— 1581. 
Matthew  Dickson— 1582. 
John  Marshal— 1583. 
Simon  Johnstone — 1584. 
Alexander  Maxwell — 1585. 
Herbert  Rayning — 1586. 
John  Bryce— 1587. 
Roger  Gordon— 1588. 
Herbert  Rayning — 1591-2. 
Homer  Maxwell — 1593. 
Lord  Maxwell— 1598. 


200  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

In  1607  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council  directed  the  town  to 
replace  Maxwell,  then  outlawed  for  the  murder  of  Johnstone,  by 
Sir  R.  Kirkpatrick. 

Herbert  Cunningham — 1612. 

Doubtful. 

John  Corsane — 1622. 

Sir  Roger  Kirkpatrick— 1623. 

John  Corrie— 1639. 

John  Corsane — 1642. 

Robert  Grahame — 1643. 

John  Maxwell — 1645. 

Thomas  Macburnie— 1649  to  1654. 

John  Irving— 1660  to  1665. 

Thomas  Irving— 1665  to  1668. 

John  Irving— 1668  to  1674. 

Lord  Drumlanrig— 1683  to  1686. 

John  Maxwell— 1687  to  1688. 

Thomas  Rome— 1691. 

Robert  Johnstone  and  John  Irving,  alternately,  till  1700. 

In  1517  the  Bailies  of  Dumfries  were : — John  Welsh,  Andro 
Airying,  John  Ranyng,  Adam  Edzair,  Edward  of  Johnstone,  David 
Wilson,  Thomas  Macnaughton,  George  Curror,  Herbert  Gladstanes, 
Adam  Wallace,  James  Kirkpatrick,  David  Cunningham. 

In  1543 — Edward  Johnstone,  John  Crosbie,  (George  Maxwell, 
Thomas  Maxwell,  Herbert  Gladstanes,  Herbert  Parsons,  Herbert 
Maxwell,  Gilbert  Macbyrnie,  Andro  Airying,  William  Paterson, 
Homer  Maxwell,  Anthony  Houston,  Robert  Crawfurd,  Thomas 
Ranyng. 

In  1575 — Herbert  Baillie,  William  Gladstanes,  Thomas  Johnstone, 
Thos.  Baty,  William  Paterson,  Andro  Moresone,  Herbert  Maxwell, 
Peter  Davidson,  James  Wallace,  Michael  Newall,  John  Hereis, 
Andro  Edzar,  Herbert  Ranyng,  David  Rae,  John  Roule. 

On  the  accession  of  George  I.,  and  far  into  the  reign  of 
George  III.,  this  oath  was  required  from  the  Provosts  and 
Bailies,  or  any  holding  public  office,  in  Dumfriesshire  : — 

"I,  the  underscribed,  do  truly  and  sincerely  acknowledge,  and 
declare   in   my   conscience   before    God   and   the   World,  that  my 


AND   THE   BORDER   WARS.  201 

Sovereign,  King  George,  is  lawful  and  rightful  King  of  Great 
Britain,  and  all  other  his  Majesty's  dominions  thereunto  belonging, 
and  I  do  solemnly  and  sincerely  declare  that  I  do  believe  in  my 
conscience  that  the  person  pretended  to  be  Prince  of  Wales  during 
the  life  of  the  late  King  James,  and  since  his  decease  pretending  to 
be  or  taking  upon  himself  the  style  and  title  of  King  of  England  by 
the  name  of  James  III.,  or  of  Scotland  by  the  name  of  James  VIII., 
or  the  style  and  title  of  King  oi  Great  Britain,  had  not  any  right  or 
title  whatsoever  to  the  Crown  of  this  realm,  or  any  other  dominion 
thereunto  belonging.  .  .  .  and  I  will  do  my  utmost  to  disclose 
and  make  known  to  his  Majesty  and  his  successors  all  treason  and 
traitorous  attempts  which  I  shall  know  to  be  against  him,"  &c. 
"So  help  me  God." 

In  1714,  Abraham  Crichton  was  Provost  of  Sanquhar,  and  John 
Crichton  (two),  Robert  Fisher,  William  Macwath,  James  Stewart, 
&c.,  Bailies.  At  Sanquhar  the  Crichton  family  had  almost  the 
monopoly  of  the  Provostship. 

Stewards  Depute  of  Annandale — 1609,  John  Johnstone  in  Myln- 
field  ;  1610,  John  Carruthers  of  Holmains ;  1611,  Master  John 
Johnstone  ;  161.3,  .John  Carruthers. 

The  register  of  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  in  Dumfries 
is  not  older  tlian  1620,  and  is  very  much  broken  till  the 
end  of  that  century.  Some  of  the  entries  are  curious. 
Boys  are  registered  as  man  bairns,  and  girls  as  maid  bairns  ; 
and  there  is  often  a  description  of  the  person  whose  death 
is  recorded,  such  as  "  a  poor  old  woman,"  "  a  lame  begging 
man,"  &c.  ;  and  in  one  instance  the  incumbent  details  the 
ancestry  and  virtues  of  his  mother-in-law.  The  records  of 
the  burgh  are  preserved  with  intervals  from  1479.  The 
register  of  Dumfriesshire  sasines,  which  begins  in  1618,  are 
lost  during  the  years  of  Civil  War,  as  is  also  the  Register 
of  Wills,  and  almost  every  other  record  relating  to  Dum- 
friesshire at  that  period. 


202  THE   HISTORICAL   FAMILIES 

ANCIENT  PROVOSTS  OF  ANNAN. 

Lord  Maxwell— 1591. 

Robert  Johnstone  of  Brigholme  and  Newbie — ^1598. 

John  Johnstone  of  Newbie  (nephew  to  the  above) — 1602. 

Master  of  Maxwell — 1606.     (The  Lords  in  Council  directed  the  town 

to  replace  him  by  Sir  William  Cranstoun  in  1607,  on  account  of 

the  murder  of  the  Lord  of  Johnstone  by  Lord  Maxwell. ) 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill  and  Newbie — I6I2. 
Robert  Johnstone  of  Broomhills — 1617. 
Robert  Johnstone  of  Raecleuch  (tutor  and  nearest  heir  to  the  Laird 

of  Johnstone) — 1618. 
Edward  Johnstone  of  Ryehill — 1619. 
David  Millar— 1621. 
Abraham  Johnstone  of  Brume  and  Newbie,  brother  to  Edward — 

1622.     (Specimens  of  their  handwriting  exist  in  connection  with 

their  office.) 
David  Millar— 1625. 

John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield— 1624,  and  from  1638  to  1643. 
Homer  Murray  (of  the  Cockpool  family) — 1643. 
George  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield ;  also  Parliamentary  Commissioner — 

1646. 
John  Johnstone  of  Mylnfield — 1649. 
Mark  Loch  —  1656.     (He  was  the  first  lessee  of  the  Government  Post 

between  Carlisle  and  Annan. ) 
Hugh  Sinclair—  1661. 
Bryce  Blair — 1666. 
^Yilliam  Grahame  of  Blaatwood— 1669  and  1683.     (He  married  a 

Carlile  of  Bridekirk.) 
William  Johnstone,  Earl  of  Annandale  — 1670. 
David  Johnstone,  brother  to  John  of  Mylnfield  (then  dead) — I67S. 
James  Carruthers — 1681. 
John  Johnstone  of  Galabank  — 1682. 
Bryce  Blair— 1685. 

Earl  of  Annandale,  created  Marquis — 1686  till  1713. 
James  Lord  Johnstone — 1713. 
Bryce  Blair,  John  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  J.  Irving,  and  others  in 

the  last  century. 


AND  THE   BORDER  WARS. 


203 


APPENDIX     A. 


SOVEREIGNS    OF     SCOTLAND. 


Kenneth  II. 

Duncan  I.— 1034. 

Macbeth— 1040. 

Malcolm  III.— 1056. 

Donald -1093. 

Duncan  II.— 1094. 

Edgar- 1097. 

Alexander  I.  — 1106. 

David  I.— 1124. 

Malcolm  IV.— 1153. 

William  the  Lyon — 1165. 

Alexander  IL -1214. 

Alexander  III.— 1249. 

Margaret- 1286. 

.John  Baliol— 1292. 

Sir  William  Wallace,  Guardian. 

Robert  Bruce— 1306. 

David  IL— 1329. 

Robert  IL— 1370. 

Robert  III.— 1390.— Illegitimate 

son. 
Duke  of  Albany,  Regent — 1405. 


James  L— 1423. 

James  II. —1437. 

James  111.-1460. 

James  IV.— 1488. 

James  V. — 1513. 

Mary— 1542. 

James  VI. — 1567. 

Union  of  England  and  Scotland — 

1603. 
Charles  I.— 1625. 
Cromwell— 1649. 
Charles  IL— 1660. 
James  VIL— 1685. 
William  III.  and  Mary  IL— 1688. 
Anne— 1702. 
George  I.— 1714. 
George  IL— 1727. 
George  III.— 1760. 
George  IV.— 1820. 
William  IV.— 1830. 
Victoria— 1837. 


OQ 

, 

09 

0 

H^J 

c 

•¥^ 

m 

OQ 

0 

J 

o 

-»* 

t-D 

CO 

••*■ 

Q: 

2 

OQ 

0 

1 

b/3 

"J 

3 

0 

i 

1 

•r-H 

c5 

<D 

5 

C 

U 
'J 

(-:i 

«8 

3 

rt 

'3j 

1— « 

0 
0 

c 
_rt 

tS 

v^v 

0 

c  - 

-  rt  — 

_  t- 

^ 

i 

t-l 
•  r-H 

it3 

02 

CZ2 

5: 
-c: 
■♦^ 
0          S 

0       s 

rt 
Ui 

.5 
*G 

u 

1 

H 

6 
W 

1—1 

C 

0) 

^ 

0 
ij 

to 

3 
rt 
2 

-d                        ''' 

T3 

1       i 
^       1 

u  ■ 

-i-H 

02 

03               1 

s 

X 

c« 

rt 

0               1 

pq 

pq 

0 

0 

? 

rt 

tJ) 

•^ 

^ 

=J               * 

-d 

—  a_ 

rt 

>^ 

TD 

0 

C 

•d 

. 

t« 

(L) 

t^ 

"Is 

0 

CT3 

■§ 

rt 

rt 

> 

rt 

rt 

rt 

X 

bb 
3 

c 
1 

^ 

tn 

T^ 

"O 

M 

< 

m 

rt 

1 

o 

f-l 

O 
EH 

C+-I 

o 

w 

'TIS 

=2 

CO 

cT 

to 
0 
eg 

■0 

.03 

W 

1 

/-^ 

0 

1> 

w 

1 

in 

0 

-T3 

s 
1 

a. 

3 

W 

JL, 

in 

2. 

M 

0 

H 

2, 

3 
."2 

'tn 

1 

-a 

u 
rt 

-a 

0 

13 

•g 

rt 
0 

in 

of  Henry  I.  of  Franct 

< 

t>2 

CD 

'Pa 

g 

tS 

-a 
-  rt- 

■0 

c 

_  3- 

s 

-0 

rt        D 
-  Ml —  u  - 

w    1 

G 

c 

0 

M 
C 

."5 

rt 

P 

-§ 

i 

CO 

W 

w 

3 

E 

•T3 

S 

(n 

o 

ri*^ 

^ 

<; 

« 

^ 

bfl 

CQ 

ce 

crs 

E 

1                ! 

(E 

r^ 

c: 

J 

2 

O 

Fh 

c3 

1 1 

o3 

"rt 

be 

rt 

pq 

d5 

^ 

•a 

IX) 

<H-i 

i< 

< 

rTl 

0 

-c; 

+=> 

CO 

C4-I 

« 

0 

0 

0 

-4^ 

CO 

rt 

0 

03 

0 

s 

OQ 

a> 

(D 

•*-• 

n 

t 

p— ( 

CO 

03 

Q 

t>5 

05 

0 

■^ 

Ph 

J3 

H 


o 


.   I/: 


'S'a      -c 


u 
o 


oc3 


g 
"o 

«5 


•T3 

C 


O 
o 
cr. 

o  2" 

-  M  N 

C    "- 


.a 


n 


o 


—•a 


a 


J2 
O 


t- V-. 

yl 

ri  O 

1) 

^2^   cr> 

T3 

V5 

<U 

O 

• 

c 

"H 

£i 

3 

rt 

rt 

O 

U 

U 

O 

>■ 

(U 

<L> 

;> 

"O 

:-• 

rt 

"S 

§ 

tr: 

-9 

rt 

1 

nJ 

^tH 

l-H 

t^ 

OJ 

1- 

~JL 

0 

J3 
O 


J3 

o 

p:5 


4) 


St? 

T3 
J3 


O. 
t5 


p        W 


-  c 
o     — 


O  8 


c 
'in 


£ 


o 


o 


3 


.'§_.o 


I— - 

a 


o 


> 
o 
O 

3  ool 

..-  G      .J3    O 

-i^    O  *-<   *J  ^— 

t^ 

.^c2  ic^^ 

o 

Pi 

1 

Bridek 
iles  of 
Gayhu 
;  and  o 
and  F 

■—t: a 

O    flTJ—    = 

S^SMj 

rt  u          .1-1 

-a  j3  ^~  i«  -= 

^•^i-s^ 

^^Hi- 

■-K   .  o 

O        -3   u, 

CO 

<u 

gCL,   O   en 

^ 


T3 

-C 


I 


o 


c 


S  c 

^  o  *« 

Jf   -y,    ° 


It: 


w « 

^i 


206  THE  HISTORICAL  FAMILIES 

APPENDIX     C. 


LETTERS  PROM  OARLYLE,  THE  HISTORIAN,  AND 
EDWARD  IRVING. 

Craigenputtock,  13th  July,  1829. 
My  Dear  Irving, — 

I  write  in  very  great  haste,  and  to  write  a  favor  must 
therefore  proceed  directly  to  business.  Mr  Andrew  Anderson,  the 
youngest  and  now  only  British  son  (for  the  other  two  are  in  India) 
of  the  Straquhan  family,  is  setting  out  for  Birmingham  to  establish 
himself  there  as  surgeon.  He  reckons  that  it  would  essentially 
serve  him  to  be  introduced  to  Dr  (John)  Johnstone  of  Galabank,  the 
chief  physician  there.  He  has  already  seen  Dr  J.,  and  been  kindly 
received  by  him,  but  only  under  the  escort  of  some  transient  and 
merely  official  acquaintance,  and  only  in  the  character  of  an 
aspirant  to  medical  employment  without  further  testimonial  of  any 
kind.  I  believe  you  knew  Mr  Anderson's  brother.  .  .  .  Could 
you  now,  on  the  faith  of  my  evidence,  testify  to  Dr  Johnstone  that 
our  young  adventurer  is  a  person  of  the  same  stamp.  An  honest, 
inoffensive,  diligent,  even  amiable  and  praiseworthy  man,  would 
be  much  assisted  thereby,  an  old  friend  gratified,  and  a  M-orthy  and 
much  afflicted  family  cheered  and  obliged.  As  your  whole  know- 
ledge must  be  by  hearsay,  I  am  careful  not  to  exaggerate  Mr  A.'s 
praises.  What  I  have  stated  may  be  repeated  as  mine  in  all 
situations  without  fear  of  contradiction.  A  letter  of  this  purport  to 
Dr  Johnstone,  and  sent  under  cover  to  "A.  Anderson,  Esq.,  68 
High  Street,  Birmingham,"  would  accomplish  all  that  is  wanted. 
.  .  .  .  I  have  made  no  engagement  for  your  performing  the 
kindness,  except  the  assurance  that  you  were  at  all  times  a  warm- 
hearted, helpful  man,  and  delighted  in  nothing  so  much  as  in 
assisting  all  that  needed  assistance.  Had  you  seen  the  young  man 
himself,  or  seen  his  mother  (one  of  the  most  estimable  Scottish 
ladies  and  mothers  I  have  ever  seen,  and  now  widowed  and  sick, 
yet  trusting  meekly  in  a  higher  gi;idance),  you  would  rejoice  to  do 
this  much  for  her  sake,  and  far  more. 

And,  now,  I  must  leave  the  matter  in  your  own  hands,  for,  as 
hinted  above,   I  have  not  a  minute  to  myself.     I   am   scribbling 


AND   THE   BORDER  WARS.  207 

against  time,  and  sore  held  back  by  many  things,  chiefly  by  natural 
dulness. 

We  feel  glad  that  we  saw  you  here.  Your  presence,  as  it  always 
does,  has  brightened  up  our  regard  for  you,  and  dissipated  all  news- 
paper tarnish,  if  there  ever  was  such.  Even  your  errors  of  opinion 
(as  I  must  consider  them)  assume  a  respectable  shape,  errors  of  a 
good  heart,  and  a  strong,  though  too  luxuriant,  intellect.  We  take 
you  as  you  are,  and  are  very  glad  that  we  have  you. 

The  bruit  of  your  appearance  is  not  yet  dead  in  this  quarter,  and 
the  old  grey  crag  still  stands  (where  it  has  stood  since  the  deluge). 

THOMAS  CARLYLE. 
To  the  Rev.  Edward  Irving. 


London,  13  Judd  Place,  East, 
2l8t  December,  1829. 

My  Dear  and  Honoured  Friend, — 

If  I  be  not  troublesome,  I  desire  to  introduce  to  you  my 

young  friend,  Dr  John  Carlyle,  an  Annandale  man,  the  brother  of 

the  very  ingenious  man  at  whose  request  I  introduced  Mr  Anderson 

to  you  some  time  ago.     Dr  Carlyle  is  a  young  man  of  excellent 

character  and  principles,  great  modesty,   honesty,  and  simplicity, 

well  bred,  and  well  learned  in  his  profession,  so  far  as  I  am  a  judge. 

He  has  resided  on  the  Continent,  and  in  Germany,  for  some  years  in 

the  house  of  one  of  the  chief  men  of  the  Bavarian  Court  as  his 

friend  ;    but   he   has   brought   home    with    him  the  same   Scottish 

character  for  morals  and  principles  with  which  he  went  out.     He 

intends  practising  at  Warwick  as  a  physician,  and  I  err  greatly  if 

he  will  not  prove  a  credit  to  a  profession  which  your  father's  name 

has  already  raised  to  such  a  height  in  these  parts.     I  commend  him 

to  your  kindness,  and  to  that  of  my  dear  and  most  kind  friend,  Mrs 

Johnstone.      My   respectful   love   to   all  your  house,  and  to  your 

brother  ;  and  to  your  daughter  and  her  husband,   when  you  see 

them. 

Your  affectionate  and  faithful  friend, 

EDWARD  IRVING. 
To  Dr  John  Johnstone, 

Monument  House. 


E  RRAT  A. 


Page    67— An    earlier   charter  exists  of    Holmains   to   Carruthers, 
from  David  II.,  1361. 
,,  In   8th   line   of    note,   for   "Mayfair"   read    "Portman 

Square." 
,,  In  23rd  line  of  note,  for  "  Berup  de"  read  "  Bempde." 

Page  110— In  11th  line  from  bottom,  insert  comma  after  Hoddam. 
Page  114— In  last  line  but  one,  for  "two  John"  read  "David  and 
John. " 


I  nsr  ID  E  221. 


Agatha,  Princess — 41 

Alan,  ancestor  of  the  Stewarts — 18 

Albany,  Dukes  of— 34,  5,  7,  9,  40, 

6,  80,  1 
Alexander  III.— 8, 10,  12,  70 

Prince— 10,  11 

Alexis,  Czar — 135 

Alnwick— 10,  45 

Alva,  Johnstones  of — 156 

Aniisfield,  Charteris  of— 2,  39,  73, 

81,  2,  8,  97,  100,  15,  37,  49,  58, 

93  9i9 
Andersons— 9,  136,  206,  7 
Andrew,  Abbot  of  Cupar — 11 
Angus,  Earls  of— 46,  77,  80,  119, 

128,  45,  46 
Annan,  Lords  of,  and  Galloway. 

Baliol  or  Bailleul— 4,  6,  12,  20 
Annan,  Sieges  of — 80,  95,  111 

Provosts  of— 202 

Men  of— 113 

Annand,  William  de — 23 
Annandale.    Marquis    of — 49,    90, 

157,  76,  84,  190,  5 
Annandale,  and  Cxalloway,  Doug- 
las, Lord  of — 36,  7,  67 
Annandale,  Earl  of — 157 
Apilgirth,  Jardines  of — 1,  21,  63, 

76,  95,  8,  111,  15.  21 
Archers,  Scottish — 40 
Argyll,  Duke  of— 14 
Armstrongs— 12,  81,  3,  94,  6,  104, 

111,  18,  24,  29,  37,  40,  43,  67 
Arran,  Earl  of— 90,  98,  118 
Auchencastle,    Maitlands    of — 88, 

116.  37 
Atholl,  Earl  of— 35 
Auchenleck,  Boswells  of — 76,  172, 

96 
Auchensell,  Menzies  of — 137 
Augustine,  St. — 9 
Auldgirth,  Kirkpatrick  of — 65, 168 
Aymer  de  Savoie — 23 
de  Valence— 24,  30 

Badenoch,  Comyn  of  (see  Comyns) 

— •  Wolit  of— 34 

Baillies  of  Lamington — 13,  118 
Balfour,  Sir  J.— 117 
Baliol  or  Bailleul— 1,  10 

Edward — 45 

King  John— 23,  35 

Bannockburn — 15 


Banquo — 18 

Barjarg,  Hunter- Arundell  of — 74 

Barndarroch,  Rorison  of — 66,  136 

Beatties— 79,  96,  118,  69,  74 

Beck— 16 

Bells  of  Blacket  House,  Middlebie, 

&c.— 76, 9,  81,  95,  7, 103,  8,  9,  14, 

18,  22,  137 
Bells  of  Kirkconnel — 97 
Bell,  Willie— 88 
Berkeley,  John — 7 
Beustede — 30 
Blacks— 114 
Bog,  Scot  of  the— 83 
Borthicks— 66,  7 
Boswells — see  Auchinleck 
Bothwell,  Earls  of-5, 28,  78, 104,26 
Boyville— 23 
Brackenthwayte,  Johnstone  of— 14 

Carlile  of— 70,  170 

Browns— 33,  119,  37,  52,  93 
Bruce,  Alexander,  Thos.,  Edward, 

and  Nigel— 3,  14 
Bruc3,  Christina — 14 

Margaret — 6,  17 

Marjory — 4,  15 

Marie— 14 

Robert— 1,  2,  3,  4,  12,  95 

King— 5, 14, 16, 18, 

20,  2,  6,  8,  9,  31,  2,  4,  45,  64,  6,  72 
Bruce,  Robert — 131 

General — 135 

Bryce  Blair— 168,  81,  202 
Buccleuch,  Earls  and  Dukes  of — 

78,  9,  82,   103,   46,   94,   95  (see 

Scott) 
Buchan,  Countess  of — 14 

Earl  of- 22 

Buckingham,  Duke  of — 62 

Burnans — 114 

Bute,  Marquis  of —42 

Caerlaverock — see  Maxwell 
Campbell,  Sir  N.— 14 
Carleton,  Sir  T.— 93 
Carlile  or  Carlyle,  Adam — 2 

of  Annan— 70,  114,  69 

Christopher— 135 

Thomas— 203 

of  Bridekirk,   ,fcc.— 17,   70, 

94,  129,  37,  182 

of  Torthorwald— 5,  13,  16, 


21,  9,  69,  81,  98,  107 


14 


210 


INDEX. 


Carrick,  Earl  of— 19 

Carmichael  of  Hyndford — 128,  35, 

8,  43,  97 
Carmichael — 69 
Carnwarth,  Earl  of— 177 
Carruthers,  Thomas — 25 

of  Dormont — 67 

of  Holmains  or   How- 

mendes— 48,  67,  81,  98,  110,  18, 

121,  37,  58 
Carruthers  of  Mouswald— 48, 67, 81 

of  Wormanbie— 137,  62 

Cassilis,  Earl  of— 87,  177 

Cathcarts — 13 

Cecil,  Sir  Robert— 111,  27,  9,  40 

Chamberlayne — 194 

Charles  I.— 19,  62,  79,  194 

II.— 157 

XII.— 135 

Edward,  Prince— 180,  1 

Stewart -19 

Charlotte,  Queen — 183 
Chisholm-126 

Chevy  Chace,  Battle  of-27,  46 
Clifford-30,  3,  6 
Clapper  ton,  H. — 184 
Closeburn — see  Kirkpatrick 
Cockpool — see  Murray 
Coleman — 9 
Oomlongan — 26,  49 
Complaints,  Book  of —  103 
Comyn  or  Cumyn— 12,  14,  20,  2, 

64  (now  Cumming) 
Corbets— 114 
Corries  or  Curries — 4,  25,  30,  67, 

171 
Corrie  of  Kelwood — 5,  6,  48,  51,  S, 

IGO 
Corsanes— 155,  81,  200 
Craig— 197 
Craigies  -13,  47,  89 
Cranchley,  Laii'd  of — 79 
Cranstoun-28,  78,  118,  58 
Crichton,  Sir  A. — 158 
of  Ryhill— 196 

of  Sanquhar — 29,  42,  52, 

84,  144,  58,  01 

of  Frendraught — 42 

Cromwell— 18,  134,  67 
Crosbies— 16,  23,  200 
Crusades -3,  4,  10 
Cumberland,  Duke  of —178,  83 

; Earl  of— 88 

Cumming,  Sir  W.  G. — 64 
Cunningham — 22,  123,  96 
of  Kirkshaw— 137 


Dacre,  Lord— 80,  1,  3 
Dalbeattie -137 
Dalgles,  R.-80 
Dalziell— 79,  115,  66,  97 

of  Knock— 81,  137,  58 

David  I.-9 

II.— 7,  25,  45 

;-  Prince— 37 

Davidson — 196 
Derby,  Earl  of— 36 
Derwent,  Lord — 156 
Derwentwater,  Earl  of — 177 
Despencer,  Hugh  le— 30 
Devorgilla — 5 
Dirleton,  Earl  of — 145 
Douglas,  Sir  James — 28 

William— 36 

of  Drumlanrig— 44, 53, 70, 

107,  11,  15,  21,  45,  8 

Kelhead— 117,  95,  8 

Torthorwald— 17,  169 

Queensberry— 145,  77,  95 

(Duke  and  Marquis) 

Rebellions  of  the  6,  47,  77 

of  Morton  (Earl)— 107, 17 

of  Cassogill— 117,  58 

Dryburgh,  Abbot  of— 98 
Dryfe  Sands,  Battle  of— 122 
Dumfries,  Ike,  Members  foi- — 195 

Earl  of— 42 

• Provosts  of— 199 

Capture  of- 13,  93, 108, 

181 
Dunbar,  Earl  of  Murray— 38,  46 

Lady  Elizabeth— 37 

—  Janet— 38,  59 

Dunwiddie  or  withie — 21,  76,  81, 

121 
Durham,  Battle  of — 5,  17 

Eccleshall  Castle— 33 
Edward  I. — 10,  et  seq. 

II.— 14,  30 

III.— 26 

Prince  of  Wales— 77 

VL— 90,  9 

Eglintoun,  Earl  of— 6 

Eliot  or  Elliot— 79,  97,  124,  73 

of  Arkletoun — 67,  173 

Elizabeth,  Queen— 108,  10,  29,  32 

Eric  of  Norway— 10,  11 

Erskiue— 88 

Esk— 7 

Eugenie,  Empress — 65 

Ealamuir,  Battle  of — 86 


INDEX. 


211 


Falkirk,  Battle  of— 21 

Farish  or  Fareis — 159 

Fergusson  of  Craigdarroch — 74,197 

■ of  Halhill— 167 

Fingal— 18 

Fitz  Alleyne  or  Stewart— 18,  73 

Fitz  Payn— 30 

Flemings  of  Wigton— 7,  27,  43,  65, 
88,  158 

Fleming,  Sir  Raoul — 10 

Flodden,  Battle  of— 79 

Francis  II.,  called  King  of  Scot- 
land—101 

Friars'  Kersse— 139 

Galloways— 114,  48 

Gass  or  Gasks— 114,  37,  64 

George  III.— 67,  183 

Gibsons — 159 

Gillisbe— 33,  96 

Gilnockie— 82 

Gladstone  or  Gledstanes — 33,  111 

Glencairn,  Earl  of— 89,  107 

Glendinning— 29,  79,  136 

Gordons— 13, 135,  6 

of  Airdis— 136 

Lochinvar — 107,  36,  44,  6 

— ■ Skernaes — 136 

Traquhair— 136 

Culvennan — 63 

Kemnure  (Earls)— 63,176 

of  Earlston — 63 

Gray— 7,  88 

Graham  or  Grahame  of  Blaatwood 

—161,  68,  202 
Graham,  Sir  R.,  of  Esk— 61 

Patrick— 7 

Sir  R.— 35 

of  Mossknowe — 61 

of  Netherby— 61 

13,  18,  80,  94,  8,  114,  24, 

137,  144,  167 

Granton— 98, 137 
Grants — 111 
Grierson — 26 

of  Lag-27,  74,  97,  110, 

123,  47,  93 

Hairs- 114 

Hallidays— 114,  58,  73 
Hamilton— 39,  101,  8,  117,  47 
Harry,  Blind— 19 
Hay— 99, 107 

Thomas— 6 

Lord  Yester— 107 

Henderson — 79 


Henry,  King  (Darnley) — 5, 106 

I— 10 

VIII.-85 

II.  of  France— 100,  30 

Hepburns — 28 

Heriot,  George — 163 

Heriz  or  Herries— 5,  21,  67,  75, 121 

of  Mabie— 136 

of  Hoddara — 76 

of  Terregles— 46,  75,  80, 104 

et  seq.,  116,  50,  93  ;  also  Maxwell 

Herries,  Lord — 75 
Hertford,  Lord— 91 
Home— 82,  105 
Hope,  Sir,  William— 193 
Hopetoun,  Earl  of — 157 
Howe -147,  88 
Hume— 27,  !) 
Huntley,  Lord — 86 
Hunters— 67,  97,  137 
Hutchins— 114 

Ingleby-100 

Ireland— 26 

Irvings  or  Irwins-  95,  159 

of  Bonshaw  and  Robgill — 

51,  72,  80,  95,  116,  21,  37,  63,  94 

of  Kirkton— 129 

of  Wisbie-113 

of  Gretna— 103,  151 

John— 173 

Edward  - 184,  206 

Ivan,  Czar — 129 

Jackson — 81 
James  I.— 34 

IL-36 

in. -39,  77 

IV.— 80,  4 

V.-S2,  5,  9,  104 

VL— 118,  29,  32 

VIL-168 

Prince— 176,  201 

Jardines — 1,  2,  4  (see  Apilgirth) 

of  Castlemilk— 199 

Joan,  Queen — 35 
Johnstone,  Hope — 157,  193 
of  Johnstone— 23  et  seq., 

42,  6,  8,  81,  93,  6,  108,  12, 17  et 

seq.,  139,  53  et  seq. 

Cottis— 97 

Cunmiertrees — 119,  26 

Craigaburn— 97, 117,  36 

Elphinstone— 47,  8,  57, 

116 


212 


INDEX. 


Johnstone,  Gretna — 25,  49,  143  et 

seq.,  190 
Newbie  and  Galabank 

—49  et  seq.,  98, 147, 1G7, 179 ;  also 

Gretna 

Westerhall— 25,  51,  G7, 

156,  187,  194,  7 

Elsiechellis— 70,  9G,  145 

Castlemilk— 123 

Wamfray— 84,  121,  57 

Warriestoun— 23,  123 

and  others— 25,  33,  97, 

106,  23,  37 
Joinville,  Chevalier — 23 
Jonesby,  Ivo  de — 22 
Jonson,  Ben.  — 123 
Joseph,  Emperor— 184 

Renault,  Bishop — 23 
Ker   or   Kerr- 29,    82   (Earl   of 
Lothian)  161 

of  Cessford— 28, 103 

of  Fernihurst,  &c. — 149 

Kennedy,  Clark— 74 
Lord— 27 

Q.   IT 

Kirkpatrick,  Sir  R.— 20,  22 

—  Humprey — 7,  22 

of  Closeburn — 63,  95, 

7,  9,  111,  122,  3,  37,  47,  58,  68 

of  Kirkmichael — 97 

of  Penresax — 25 

of  Kos— 39,  107 


Sharpe — 65 

Langholm — 39 
Langside,  Battle  of — 107 
Langton — 88 
Latimer — 16 
Laurie— 112, 198 
Lawson — 96 
Lennox,  Earl  of — 95 
Levingstone  or    Livingstone — 16, 

137,  144 
Liddell  of  Halkerstone — 48 
Lindsay — 64,  119 

— — of  Barclay — 136 

Littles— 97,  113,  146 
Loch— 114,  148,  196 
Lockhart— 28,  172,  184 
Louis  IX. — 4 

XIL— 40 

Lowther — 141 
Lyle— 27 
Lyon;— 95 


Macaynes — 30 
Macbriar— 195,  9 
M'Dowall— 27 
M'Lellan  of  Bombie— 136 

of  Mertoun— 137 

M'Naughts   of    Kilquhantie    and 

that  Ilk— 136,  7 
Maitland    of   Eccles  —  76    (see 

Auchencastle) 
Malcolm  II. --3,  44 

— IIL— 49 

Mansfield— 81 

Earl  of— 71 

Mar,  Earl  of— 14,  167 
March,  Earl  of— 7,  37 
Margaret,  Princess — 10 

Infant  Queen — 10,  2 

Mary,  Queen— 19,  56,  104 

Queen  of  England — 131 

Maria  Theresa,  Empress — 183 
Mauleverer,  Hugh  de^22 
Maxwell  of  Carlaverock — 1,  32,  45, 

53,  69,  79  et  seq.,  102,  15  et  seq. 

Kirkhouse — 145,  52 

Tynwald— 81,  97 

Brackenside — 97, 117 

of  Gribton— 148,  152,  3,  8 

and  others— 136,  193,  6  ; 

also  Herries  and  Nithsdale 
Melville— 88 
Menzies — 114 
Millers  of  Annan— 114,  96 
Milners— 30 
Moffats— 97 
Monro— 136 
More,  Sir  J.— 6,  30 
Monteith— 88 
Montrose— 61,  146 
Mounceux — 16 
Mounsay — 158 
Multon  or  Molton— 12,  30 
Muncaster,  Lord — 62 
Murray,  Regent— 56,  101,  8 
of  Cockpool— 30,  46,  66, 

70,  1,  81,  101,  6,  10,  33,  53,  57,  69 

Earl  of  Annandale— 71 

Kirkconnel— 164,  193 

of  Scone — 71 

—  of  Aiket— 163 

of  Belriding— 184 

of  Dundrennan — 163 

of  Murraythwaite— 137 

Musgrave— 62,  97,  110,  43 

Nicksons— 97 
Nicolson — 129 


INDEX. 


213 


Nithsdale,  Earls  of— 155,  60,  76 

Oliphant— 88 
Ormond,  Earl  of— 39 
Orr— 168 
Otterburne,  Sir  A.— 99 

Palmers  of  Annan — 114 
Paul,  Emperor— 184 
Pennant — 177 
Percys— 24,  30 
Philip  le  Bel— 23 
Potts— 114,  159 
Pringle— 88 
Pulteney,  Sir  William— 194 

Raecleuch,  Douglas  of— 116 

Johnstone— 126, 156 

Raes — 114 

Ragman's  Roll— 13,  15,  25,  111 

Ralston — 172 

Richard  I.— 3 

Richardsons  -114,  171 

Rigs— 95,  114,  164 

Robert  II.— 26,  73 

III.— 7,  22,  32,  3,  45 

Robesons — 114 

Romes  of  Dalswinton — 76 

of  Tordoffe,  Gretna,  &c.— 97 

Rosse,  William — 7 
Ross  of  Craigie— 89,  97 

Bernard— 172 

Routleges — 79 
Roxburgh — 33 
Rutherford— 29 
Ruthven,  Lord — 55,  191 
Ryehill,  Crichton  of— 196 
Johnstone — see  Newbie 

St.  Clair  or  Sinclair— 10,  89,  197, 

202 
Salisbury,  Symon  of — 23 
Sanders — 136 

Saulsyde,  Abbot  of— 92,  98 
Sautray  or  Soltray — 24 
Scrope,  Lord — 109 
Scott  of  Satchells— 145 

Buccleuch— 78,  105, 12,  28,  47 

(see  Dukes  of) 

Branxholme— 79,  84,  112,  29 

Guildlands— 117,  46 

Tuschelaw— 72,  83,  117 

Scythians — 15 

Sharp  of  Hoddam— 67,  76,  199 


Setons— 4,  13,  107 
Skaleby,  N.  de— 16 
Smythes— 114 
Solway  Moss— 89 
Somerville,  William— 7,  47 

Lord— 89,  107 

Steward  or  Stewart  John  (Robert 
III)- 

James  the — 19 

Walter— 4 

of  Castlemilk— 46,  7,  74, 

81 

—  Robert— 35 

of  Darnley — 7 

of  Menteith— 15 

of  Bonkil— 13,  19,  20 

of  Garlies— 74,   11.5,   19, 

158  (now  Earl  of  Galloway) 

of  Ochiltree— 17 

Sutherland,  Earl  of — 7 
Sweetheart  (Suavi  Cordium)  Abbey 

—5,  93 

Tailleur,  Guilliaurne  de — 1,  24 
Tailors— 81 
Tennent— 172 
Thomsons— 9,  79,  97 
Tods— 113 

Trumbles— 72,  146,  51 
Tweedles  of  Drumelzier — 98 
Tyndings — 114 

Ulster,  Earl  of— 4,  14 

Wallace,  Sir  William— 15,  19,  20 

of  Craiggie — 47 

Warriors — 114 
Warwick,  Earl  of —23,  30 
Welch— 114,  195 
Wemyss  of  Cassogil — 104 
Wharton,  Sir  Thomas— 88,  97 
Whites— 114 
Whitford,  Parson— 162 
William  the  Lion — 3 
Wilkins— 113,  59 
Williamson— 193,  7 
Wilson— 172 
Winchester,  John  of — 23 
Wolsey,  Cardinal — 83 
Wyntoun — 26 


Yate,  Adam  del- 
Young — 161 


-16 


Cv 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
j|jMi  iI^NyfOok  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


WON-l?FWFiii|iiJLE 


NOV  1 


DU£2WK6hKUIvj 
NOV  2  5  1^98 


4 1996 


UhiLixti^LiVED 


Form  L9-50TO-7, '54 (5990)444 


^ 

_jJohnstorie_j:^ 

1 

30 
38J6^ 

Historical 
_famlies 

1 

339 

n 

1          .                

3  1158  01 


DA 
880 

D88J6^ 
1339 


UC  SOUTHERM  REGIONAL 


AA    000  604  733